Ender's Heart
by ReaperAsOfLate
Summary: Lynelle is a simple girl, daughter of Steve, living in the world of Minaria. Her life's going good, but she craves some excitement. But she might have gotten more than she wanted when her life is saved by a mysterious boy with glowing purple eyes and a tragic past. Rated M for swearing, imagery of gore etc [On Temporary Hiatus]
1. Chapter 0: Foreword

**Foreword/ Author's Note**

**This fan fiction is set in a Minecraft world that is closer to our world than the game. Instead of blocky pixels, people look like normal people, trees fall into circular logs, dirt falls in piles, Etc. **

**Things like Crafting work more like they really would; tools need to be smithed, wood needs to be sawed into planks etc.**

**Realistic Physics, so no flying tree stumps, mountains or houses. A roof might collapse if it isn't supported right, or if a creeper destroys that part of a wall etc.**

**Monsters, including ones in the Nether, are still the same except Zombies and Skeletons don't burn as in burst into flames in sunlight, they just slowly turn to ash. Endermen can still teleport, Creepers still explode, etc.**

**Endermen in this story are capable of human-level intelligence, but some of them (mostly males) turn feral and animalistic, becoming the monsters you see and fight ingame (it is rare for a female or 'Enderwoman' to turn feral, but it can happen). The intelligent ones live like humans, with villages and economy, and some even fall in love with humans.**

**Enchanting tables, Nether portals, End Portals and teleporting with Ender pearls are all seen as Cursed Magic, and using them is forbidden by the village priests, who are part of an unnamed religious group.**

**Lynnelle's friends are in fact Minecraft Youtubers, so their characters are based off of their MC Skins. These youtubers are: Dawnables, Ihadcupquake, Kim (NanoSounds) and Duncan (Lalna) from the yogscast, BajanCanadian, TheDiamondMinecart, CaptainSparklez and SkydoesMinecraft. **

**If you have any questions, you can ask me through the Reviews and I'll post the answer in the next chapter I put up.**

**Without further ado, please Enjoy the story!**


	2. Chapter 1: Guardian

Chapter 1:

"Lynelle!" A man shouted from the behind the closed wooden door. The 17 year old just groaned and buried her face into her pillows, trying to ignore her stubborn father's yelling.

"LYNELLE!" he repeated, banging his fist against the door. "GET UP! NOW!"

From the tone of his voice, she could tell he wasn't happy so she groaned again and pulled herself out of the red sheets. Pushing a few loose strands of her auburn-brunette hair out of her face, she pulled open her bedroom door and looked up at her father's stubbly face.

"Finally! I'm going out to Mistral City to pick up some things from the market, so I'll be away for a few days. You'll have to look after the house until I'm back, so I figured I'd warn you before I left." He exclaimed with a frown, grabbing his rucksack from the floor next to her bedroom door. Her father Steve was a miner, so she was used to him going out for long periods of time. He was wearing his usual light blue polo shirt and dark blue jeans, and his rough leather rucksack was secured around one shoulder, his favourite pickaxe just poking out of the top.

"Don't forget to lock up if you leave," he continued, handing her a small iron key before looking her up and down with a slight frown.

"And put some clothes on."

He finished without inflection, walking out of the front door as she looked down at herself, realising that she was only in her underwear and going bright red in the face. She gave a slight shriek as she slammed the door closed and hurriedly pulled on a dark red button-up blouse and black skirt with some red knee-high socks and black boots.

Realising that she had free reign to do anything she liked, she decided to head into the nearby village and meet up with some friends. Shoving some money and a few apples in her small shoulder bag and clipping _Tomarch_, her precious glow-stone infused Iron axe, she skipped out of the door, locking it behind her.

The village wasn't a long distance away, only a 15 minute walk to the edge of the woodlands biome she lived in, then another 10 out into the grassland. It was still advised to stay away from the woodlands at night because of how many monsters roam around in the darkness, so she would have to be back before nightfall or stay at the village overnight. Shrugging her shoulders, Lynelle continued down the beaten path for another 10 minutes before she felt a strange chill, stopping her in her tracks. It felt like… someone was watching her… With noticeably quicker steps, she continued walking to the village.

* * *

When she arrived, she spotted a young man not much older than she was step out of a house. He casually wore a black suit that matched his slick black hair and beard, and a pair of red half-rimmed sunglasses with the red rims running under the shiny black glass.

"Hey Jordan!" Lynelle called out and the boy looked over with a smile.

"Hi Lynelle! Come on, everyone else are already by the well." He shouted back, gesturing for her to follow him. She grinned and jogged up to him as he began to walk to the centre of the village. When the pair got to the well, all of her other friends were indeed already waiting there. A girl with long black hair, Kim, sat on the well in an oriental red silk dress decorated with golden trim, cuddled next to a taller blond boy in a lab coat and goggles, her boyfriend Duncan. Across from them, a brunette guy in a black-grey shirt and trousers with a golden pendant with a large amethyst set into it, Adam, was laid in the lap of his odd- looking girlfriend. Her skin was tanned, and her hair colour split in the middle, one side pink and the other purple. On top of this, her right eye was a grassy green but her left eye was a deep blue. The girl, Dawn, easily drew attention to herself, even if she doesn't try to.

"Hey Lynn!" called out another boy, casually sat on top of the well in his red and black checked hoodie and black jeans.

"Hiya Mitch!" she called back, with an excited wave. The boy gave a small wave back and turned his head to the newest arrival. "Oh, Hi Dan, it seems you're a bit late for the party!" she cheered good-naturedly.

He laughed and waved it off, petting his pet wolf Grimm on the head as he strolled over. He wore a black jacket with golden elbow pads over his dark teal t-shirt, and a pair of dark blue jeans with golden knee caps and he had a pair of pilot-like goggles on top of his head.

"The Doc was being a pain and wouldn't finish up his little tests fast enough."

Lynelle shuddered at the thought of Dan's creepy friend and mentor Dr Treyaurus and she opened her mouth to speak, only to be tackled by a purple blur.

"Ow…" she muttered, lifting her head. She opened her eyes to sight of an excited purple-haired girl in a beige t-shirt and brown shorts bouncing around happily. "Oh, it's you Tiffany!" she said with a slightly pained smile.

Tiffany gave an excited little shriek and cried "Lynelle! You didn't tell us you coming!" before breaking out in excited laughter. The rest of the group, save for Lynelle, gave a collective groan and began making exasperated mutters as Lynelle tried to calm down the hyperactive girl.

"Tiff, Lynnelle comes to the village _Every_ _Weekend_. Calm. Down." Adam muttered angrily, getting a gentle tap on the forehead and a shake of the head from Dawn. He grumbled again and settled back into his girlfriend's lap. A few minutes later, water began to drip from the sky as grey clouds rolled across.

"Oh, It's gonna rain…" Kim said with a frown, moving a little closer to Duncan. Jordan raised an eyebrow at the sky and then smiled at the group.

"Ah, well. We might as well head to my place. It'd keep us warm and dry. Come on, let's go!" he said, leading them towards his large, two story home.

* * *

An unknown amount of time passed as Lynelle and her friends talked, chatted, ate and hang out with each other. At this point they were laughing at the expense of Duncan, who currently had Jerry, Jordan's tamed pet slime, stuck to his head. As he finally finished pulling the sludge-creature off, Kim suddenly asked about a rumour she heard on the journey over.

"Hey, do you guys know anything about this 'black-hooded assassin'?" she asked. Duncan caught on quickly and looked up from his slimy playmate.

"Yeah, I heard some of the village priests in the next village over talking about that, but they didn't tell me much." He explained.

Jordan rested his head in his palm thoughtfully. "I did hear something about some kind of swordsman that kills monsters, village guards, and priests, alike. It's rumoured he's quite young, but given the skills he supposedly has, he must've been at least late 20s, early 30's. Had to have been trained from birth."

"I heard about that as well!" Tiffany squeaked happily. "But I heard he has these super-cool magic powers that make him teleport from place to place with a _whoop_!" she threw her hands out to emphasise her point. "Just like those creepy tall monsters… those ender-things."

Duncan's finger curled on his chin as the scientist he was tried to analyse the connection. "Endermen, hm?"

"Hey look, the rain's letting up a bit. It's getting pretty dark soon, you're gonna need to head back soon Lynelle." Dawn interrupted, looking out of the window.

She nodded in response and sighed. "Well, it was great chatting with you guys again, but I need to get home before dark." She stood up and stretched, and Jordan followed her to the door. "Bye guys!" she called back.

"See ya around Lynn!

"Bye-Bye!"

"Catch you later."

She turned to leave but Jordan grabbed her arm, softly but firmly. He spoke in a low voice "I haven't told the others this because I don't want them to panic, but that black-hooded murderer has been spotted nearby, according to rumours. Be careful."

She took in his nervous expression and gave him a small smile. "You know I can handle myself and besides…" she said with a bit more confidence than she actually felt and slipped Tomarch out of its pouch. "I have light _and_ a weapon to defend myself right here." She gave the axe a little wiggle in her hand. Jordan gave it a quick look before grabbing her in a brief hug and putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Please. Be careful, for our sakes."

Lynelle nodded again and turned to walk away. At the end of the path, she gave a quick glance at Jordan still waiting at the door and dismissed him with a quick nod. He gave a small nod back and closed the door as she continued through town.

* * *

As soon as she crossed the border between the grasslands and the woodlands she lived in, she felt a cold chill run through her, as though her instincts echoed danger. As she travelled deeper, the moans of the zombies and the clack of bones encircled her. She drew out Tomarch, its light brightening up the trees like a torch and she held it in the best defensive stance she could think of. A snap sounded behind her and her breath hitched as she slowly turned. There was a moment of stillness as Lynelle's senses screamed at her to run before a rotting figure crashed through the bushes. The zombie's empty black eyes remained unblinking as it tried to grab her with its mottled green hands. In a brief panic she screamed before she screwed her eyes shut, grit her teeth and swung Tomarch at the monster. The axe dug into the decaying flesh and tore away the monster's throat. It moaned and gurgled before lunging again, just catching her arm with its rotten grip. She shrieked and panicked again, bringing axe down into the zombie's head, hacking a large gash in its brain. It gave a dull moan as it released its grip on her and crumpling onto the ground, dead. Lynelle stood shocked for a moment before sighing heavily in relief.

"Can this night get any worse?" she muttered to herself. Seemingly to answer her question, three new zombies slowly dragged through the bushes. She wasn't stupid, she knew that killing that first zombie was more panic and luck, so trying to kill three was just suicide, so she ran. Luckily, these three were more decayed than the last one, so they couldn't run any faster than jogging speed. She came to a clearing with a large oak tree in the centre, taller than the rest of the trees by a fair amount. She checked behind her and all of the colour drained from her face: she was followed by a crowd of zombies, at least 5 of them, some even carrying swords or axes, as well as a few skeletons taking pot-shots at her with their bows, gashing her leg and arms. She could even see the twisted, vine-like body and constant frown of one of the explosive plant-monsters, Creepers. The zombies began to slowly approach her with the creeper lurking behind. She braced for her death, either torn apart and eaten or blown to pieces in an explosion, when she heard the tell-tale 'vwhoop' of a teleport. 'So now an _Enderman_ shows up?!' she thought. Although she couldn't see it, she was certain it would kill her from behind, so she tensed up for the cold hand to snap her neck or rip her heart out with its twisted black claws.

But it never came. Instead, in front of her was a young man, dressed all in black with a hooded military coat that flapped around his thighs, crouching low with a dark, greenish blue sword held out, its blade pointed away from him. 'What is that sword made of? It's not diamond, and you can't smith emeralds into swords, so what could it be? More importantly, who is this guy and _why _does he need a sword like that?!' Lynelle thought quickly in a panic. She tried to take a look at his face, but because of the hood, the darkness and his low crouch, she could only make out his dark clothing. In the light of her Tomarch, she spotted a few glints of metal on his clothes. A diamond sword identical to the unknown in his hand was sheathed on his upper leg, a sizable Iron dagger rested just inside his opposite boot and a bow that could only be described as the cursed stone Obsidian was secured with a quiver of black-tipped arrows on his back, along with a diamond axe strapped to his lower back. 'Who-ever this guy is, they're ready for war, but why?' she mentally remarked. She'd seen an entire squad of guards with fewer weapons that him, and it made her curious side more curious, but also made her cautious side scream at her to get as far away as possible. She tried to will her legs to move, but they wouldn't budge. So she stood, mesmerised by her unknown saviour cloaked all in black.

Time seemed to hang until an arrow flew straight for the man's head. In a fluid motion, he stood up and swung his sword in the path of the arrow, splitting the wood in the middle and causing the fragments to fall short. With calm and purpose, he drew the sword back before he disappeared, leaving a small shower of purple sparks in his place. Lynelle's eyes widened, her mouth fell and her grip on her glow-stone axe slipped slightly as she realised something very important 'Endermen-like powers… dressed fully in black… My god, It's that murderer.' She desperately tried to run again, but her legs still refused to move.

Less than a second later, he re-appeared behind the creeper, driving his sword through its head, skewering one of its hateful black eyes out of its skull. It gave one last spiteful hiss before he wretched the blade free and watched the corpse fall to the ground. The zombies turned, detecting the new 'prey' and the man's eyes flashed a dangerous amethyst. He drew the second diamond sword with his free hand and mirrored it with the other sword. With a slight snarl on his face, he launched towards the first zombie, cleanly taking its head from its shoulders with the diamond sword while shattering the ribcage of one of the three skeletons with a hard slash from his other sword, causing it to collapse into an inanimate pile of bones. A second zombie tried to attack, but the man whipped around, slicing deep into its flesh and almost cutting the monster in half. It gurgled in response and the man kicked it back before plunging the full length of the blades into the monster and then quickly pulled them apart, cutting the zombie into two pieces. He then used the falling corpse as a springboard to jump above another pair of zombies. In the air, he flipped the swords in his hands into reverse-dagger grips and landed between the two zombies, swords impaling through the tops of their skulls and destroying their brains. Without batting an eyelid, he ripped the blades free and sprinted towards the next zombie. His first strike was low, completely severing its leg with his diamond sword, the second he, in one fluid movement, severed one arm with an upward strike from his custom sword and followed through with downward slash on the other. The third strike was a brutal one to the target's head that cracked what was left of the lower half of its skull as the severed top-half fell off with a wet slap and a crunch. He dispatched the second skeleton by throwing the diamond axe like a Tomahawk, the weapon embedding itself in the monster's skull in a cracked, broken hole. He kicked out the leg of the Third skeleton and shattered its neck from behind, the bone breaking with a loud crack. The man dashed under the last zombie's desperate lunge as he ran his sword through its flesh, splitting open its entire right side. As it turned to grab him, its guts spilled out and it was thrown off-balance, lurching violently to the side. The man turned and bolted back towards the zombie, leaping into the air and using his entire falling momentum to slice through its neck, chest and finishing just above its hip.

After the last monster fell, the man swung each blade forcefully , swinging off the rotting blood and sticky bone fragments before sliding the swords back into their sheaths, the diamond sword back on his leg and his custom sword sliding between his bow and quiver on his back. Without a word he retrieved his axe and started walking towards Lynelle, tugging down the cloth covering the lower half of his face. This was when she first saw his face. She gasped as what she saw and her hand went to her mouth. He couldn't have been older than 19, he had deep, violet eyes that seemed to shine with the faintest of light and he was, in her opinion, quite handsome in a rugged way, if it wasn't for what she saw next. Something that stood out under the hood was the black, almost leathery skin that crept across his left side that just crossed his left eye and covered about a third of his lips, mouth and chin. He watched her shocked expression with a calm face, but she could recognise the subtle signs of an underlying anger. The slightly narrowed eyes, the barely perceptible grimace, the controlled breaths. He spoke curtly, snapping her out of her reverie.

"Go home. Now."

His voice wasn't angry, or sharp, or commanding. It was almost imperceptibly strained, just on the edge from being completely emotionless. It would have made Lynelle wonder what he must have been through to have such an attitude, but the rudely blunt comment annoyed her more.

"Thanks for saving me, but you don't need to be so blunt about it." She grumbled. He scanned her with his eyes and spoke again, this time with a glimmer more urgency before turning to walk away.

"For your own safety, go home now. You aren't strong enough to survive out here, and I'm sure_ you_ have friends or family waiting for you."

This caught her attention. "What about you? What about your family?"

"They're dead. Killed by your kind." He said over his shoulder, not turning to face her.

She gasped a little before his words replayed in her head. "What do you mean 'my kind'?" she asked.

He stopped walking and turned to face her, pulling his hood down and looking her dead in the eyes, a long buried rage burning behind the amethyst. "Humans, Villagers. Your kind hunts mine because we are 'abominations'. You even kill your own people that try to speak out against it."

"What happened? Why are you so angry at us? Don't Endermen do the same!" she exclaimed, outraged by the accusation.

His voice rose to almost a shout. "My mother, my fully human mother, was killed on the word of some fucking priest! Just because she fell in love with an Enderman! My father was more human than any number of those bastards, and he still had to die? Why? Don't try to pull that moral high-ground bull-shit on me, when I've have to watch everything I love being burned before my eyes!" he snarled at no-one in particular. Lynelle hands went to her mouth as she stepped back with a gasp, before she reached out to him tentatively. He swatted her hand away as he turned so she couldn't see his face, pulling the cloth back over his nose.

"Just go home, to those that care about you." He said in a low voice, his anger diluted with sorrow and pain as he began to walk away. He took a few steps when Lynelle called out to him again.

"Hey, I never caught your name…" she asked nervously. He half-turned and looked at her over his shoulder with a look of sorrow in his eyes.

"I don't have a name anymore…" was all he said before he disappeared, leaving nothing but a shower of purple sparks behind.

Lynelle stood motionless for a moment, his words settling in her mind. 'He doesn't have a name?' she repeated. She turned her eyes towards the moon hanging motionless in the silent sky.

"Until next time, my mysterious ender-guardian…"


	3. Chapter 2: Truth

**A/N:**** Sorry about the long update. I started writing this with a different idea in mind, but I started again because it felt like I was rushing the overall plot too much, Then I forgot about it entirely. I plead forgiveness, dear readers *Bows apologetically*. Anyway, please review, it helps me a lot!**

**Also, I forgot to mention in the first chapter but the assassin has messy black hair like Lelouch from Code Geass .**

Chapter 2:

Lynelle arrived at the village early the next Sunday morning, just in time to catch the morning announcements from the village priests outside the church. She skipped in behind her friends, some of them offering a quick greeting, and the others watching the announcements. Her eyes travelled to the small cluster of people in front of the church; on either side were two guardsmen as protection for the two priests in the middle, and at the front was the High priest; Evnidni. The man's face was pale and his skin was drooping like candle wax. His large nose appeared to have melted slightly and his pink robes did a poor job of hiding his frail frame. His nasal voice and sickly appearance made Lynelle's skin crawl, so much that she had to look away to prevent a disgusted shiver. She zoned out of his nasal droning until…

"…And as for the rumours regarding the half-enderman 'black murderer'. It has been confirmed he has been spotted in the woodlands 10 minutes to the east of here." He drawled. Lynelle's attention immediately snapped to him, listening out for anything that might harm her enigmatic rescuer. She owed him that much.

The priest continued. "Worry not, we have called for an increase to the guards, as well as sending a few patrols in to the woodlands to deal with him and any co-conspirators he may have gathered."

Lynelle frowned slightly, partly out of the worry of getting caught but mostly out of thought. She'd need to warn the assassin about the hunting parties, and he should probably know about the increase of guards around the village just in case. Her thoughts were interrupted by a tap on the shoulder, and she turned around. Tiffany grinned and Lynelle smiled back at the group before following them back to Mitch's house to hang out for a bit.

At about mid-day, Lynelle made a quick excuse to go home and was just about to leave the village walls when a guard stopped her. "Hey, little miss. I'm gonna have to stop you there. Where are you heading to?"

Lynelle smiled slightly, albeit a little forced. She didn't want to waste time chatting with a half-witted guard. "Well, I live out in the woodlands, and I need to get some things."

"What, All alone? A cute girl like you?"

Lynelle rolled her eyes. "It's alright, I'm not as helpless as I might seem." She smiled innocently, but I didn't reach her eyes.

"Sure, sure. Why don't me and my buddies go with you, to keep you safe." He replied with a lecherous grin.

'This guy doesn't know when to quit' she muttered in her head. "No, it's fine," she said out loud, unclipping Tomarch from its sheath on her waist and holding it up slightly "I can handle myself."

The guard, realising his petty flirting was going no-where, just scoffed.

"Yeah, sure, okay."

Lynelle responded with an icy glare and brushed past him, muttering under her breath about 'stupid guards'.

* * *

Later, in the woodlands, Lynelle was crunching along the worn dirt path, towards the large oak tree in the clearing, when she heard a familiar pop and feel a familiar presence. She turned around and behind her was the ender-assassin, sitting casually on a thick branch above her, one leg hanging loosely below him. He looked at her for a moment, pulled his face cloth down but kept his hood up and then spoke in with an even tone.

"I take you've got something to tell me?" He asked casually.

Lynelle frowned a little. "I came to warn you. Someone reported seeing you here, so the Church is going to send some guards in to get rid of you."

He nodded back. "That's not going to be a problem. Thank you for the warning, but why? It would better for you to not get involved with me for… obvious reasons." He said, absently touching the black, hardened skin on his cheek with his opposite hand.

"Enderman or not, I thought you should at least have fair warning."

"Oh, are you worried about me, girl?" He smirked, a hit of amusement in his cold voice.

'That's the first time I've seen him smile, even a little bit' she thought before his words actually sunk in. She blushed slightly, partially from embarrassment and partially from annoyance. "I-It's not like that, I just kind of owe you…" she slightly stammered, before she gave a little frown "… and don't call me 'girl'."

"Well, what else should I call you?"

"How about my name?!"

"You haven't told me it."

She blinked in realisation. "Oh… right. Well, It's Lynelle Haynes, so call me Lynelle, or Lynn for short."

"Gladly, Lynelle." He said with a slight smile.

She met his eyes for a moment before dropping her head. "What about you? What should I call you? I can't just call you 'assassin' or something like that…" she trailed off

He dropped his head for a moment as well before looking at her, head cocked slightly. "What do want to call me?"

"Huh?" Lynelle squeaked, her face also showing her evident confusion

"You said that I should have a name, so it's your responsibility to find one." He stated matter-of-factly. He continued to watch her reaction as she cycled through being confused, then embarrassed then thoughtful. After a moment she raised her head slightly with a quizzical look on her face.

"I-I know it's not very… subtle, but It's the best I can think of. How about 'Ender'?"

"Ender? That's definitely… to the point." He gave an incredulous look, chin resting on the palm of his hand, which in turn was resting on his bent knee.

"Well, I think it suits you. It's sharp, to the point, much like you, and it's a double meaning, if those stories about your revenge against the village priests have much truth to them."

He contemplated this for a moment. "I am an Ender-man and an Ender of lives, correct? I think I see your point." He nodded slightly to himself and hopped down from the tree smoothly.

"I can accept that. It's nice to formally meet you Lynelle." He smiled warmly, his first real smile for a long time, extending his hand for her to shake. She did so with a little hesitation and smiled back.

"It is, Ender." There was a moment of quiet as Lynelle processed that she had given this faceless assassin an Identity, and the newly-named Ender was committing this name to memory, while their eyes watched each other's with calm and respect.

"You should get going, or your friends might get suspicious that you were gone for so long." Ender broke the silence with a professional look on his face. Lynelle down-cast her eyes in thought before looking back at him.

"I should grab some things from home so I'll have an excuse for going off." Suddenly an idea popped into her head. "Hey, how does your teleportation work?" she asked.

"Um, It's sort of like a localised spacial distortion connecting the place I'm currently stand at the time and the nearest solid surface to where my eyes are focussed, resulting in anything I'm in contact with and myself being pulled to that place in an instant." He explained, with finger curled to his chin in thought.

Lynelle was lost. "Er… so… you can teleport yourself and people and things that you're touching to wherever you're looking? By sight, right?"

"I guess so… I've never had to explain it before." He said, giving her a long glance.

"Okay…can you do me a favour, please?" She asked brightly, tilting her head and giving him her best puppy dog eyes. Ender raised a questioning eyebrow but said nothing, silently asking what her request was.

"Take me home using your teleporting powers." Both his eyebrows shot up in surprise, one still higher than the other in question as he stated simply.

"Why?"

"So I can see what it's like. Plus, if I have to walk home and then back to the village, it'd take too long for my friends _not_ to get suspicious."

Ender just let out a slight groan and shook his head a little in resignation. "Fine, just don't throw up on my coat, this thing was expensive."

Lynelle gaped slightly at him with a huff before he turned to look at her. On his face was a small smirk, a real, actual _smirk_. A dark jade-green spilled into his amethyst irises, fading into a pale teal at its outer edge, like ender pearls. His put his hand on her shoulder.

"That was a joke. But seriously, don't throw up."

And with that, the air shifted around them. Purple sparks assaulted Lynelle's eyes and she screwed them shut and the air rushed around them. Just as suddenly as they had moved, they stopped for a brief moment, before they shifted again.

Several shifts later, Ender removed his hand and she opened her eyes. She found herself in front of her door. She gasped at how far she had travelled before a wave of nausea hit her like a tsunami and she dived for the nearest shrubbery. After spewing her breakfast into the greenery she muttered a few curses at the violet-eyed young man standing impassively at the gate before letting herself into the house. Several minutes later, she re-immerged in fresh clothes that complemented her companion's appearance a little too well to be accidental. In place of her red blouse was a slim fitting dress shirt in a deep purple, with a black waistcoat that hugged her waist and chest, and her knee-high socks were replaced by tight black leggings and ankle boots under a clean (and vomit free) black skirt. Her auburn hair was tied into a waterfall braid, meeting in the middle at the back of her head. Her emerald eyes quickly scanned the area outside her door, finally settling on the 19 year old assassin casually napping on a tree branch above her.

Her face became drawn and she sighed outwardly before calling out to him. "Ender, we're leaving. Get up."

His eyes opened slowly and he tilted his head slightly to look at her for a full few seconds, eyes shining their usual amethyst, before he gave an approving whistle and wordlessly and smoothly dismounted the branch, landing in front of her. She absently noted just how quietly he moved, his weapons barely making an audible sound and his footsteps barely louder than the flap of his coat.

"Are you ready? Now that you've been through the whole teleporting thing, it won't be as bad this time."

"I'm not convinced." She muttered in response. Ender extended his hand to her with a calm, levelled expression and gave her slight nod. She searched his face for a sign of a joke, saw none and gripped his wrist. When his hand closed around her wrist, she gave a slight sigh and spoke again. "Let's go, I guess."

He gave a slight nod and she screwed her eyes shut as the air shifted around them again. The movement stilled and Lynelle heard the peaceful rustling of leaves in the wind directly below her. She opened her eyes to take in the sight of the tops of the trees spread out below her. She was standing on an old wooden platform, the wind a cool breeze on her skin. She was faintly aware of a slight unsettledness in her stomach, but like Ender had said it wasn't as bad this time. A heavy breath caught her attention and she turned to a slouching Ender with a light puzzlement on her face. He noticed the look and laughed a small, shallow laugh.

"Teleporting around takes a lot out of me, so I use platforms and hunter's huts like this one to rest for a bit." He explained with a breath before popping his back and straightening out. "Let's get going again."

She nodded again and took his hand wordlessly. The world moved and moved again, and then they were standing at the edge of the woods. Lynelle's head spun again and she swayed slightly, but before she could fall, Ender stepped in front of her and lightly grabbed her arms to keep her steady. She stood up straight and took a step back, giving him a slight smile. He replied with a slight nod and the pair departed in opposite directions, Ender retreating back into the trees and Lynelle began to cross the grasslands back to the village, Tomarch bouncing at her hip.

* * *

The air was calm and the atmosphere was peaceful as Lynelle strolled around the torch-lit streets late that night, her arms folded behind her as she walked. She was taking a walk to clear her head after spending such an exhausting 3 hours being interrogated by her friends. They'd noticed the change of clothes, then came the barrage of questions. What she told them wasn't necessarily lying, just mostly half-truths about meeting with a friend, her clothing getting dirty so she needed to change and then him walking her back, omitting details like that her 'friend' was a half-enderman assassin and the whole teleporting thing. Now she needed some air. Absently, her mind wandered back to Ender. 'I wonder what he's doing round about now?' she thought to herself.

A piercing scream ripped Lynelle from her musings and she snapped her head up, towards the direction of the scream. Her body was moving before her mind caught up, and when it did she pushed herself faster, running towards the source. As she rounded the corner of a run-down house she was them and pressed her back against the rough cobblestone corner, peeking around the corner to get a proper look: A city guard was pinning an older teenaged girl about Lynelle's age up against the harsh stone wall while he groped her chest with his free-hand as his three friends leered at her from behind. Her face was held in a silent snarl and tears of anger, frustration and rage pricked in the corner of his eyes and she struggled and struck out the best she could. Her eyes locked with Lynelle's for a split-second in a silent plea for help, and Lynelle grit her teeth and stepped fully out from behind the corner, Tomarch sliding smoothly into her hand.

"Hey, what are you ass-holes doing?" she called out, fixing the guard in the middle with a hardened glare. He sneered at her and dropped the other girl, turning to face her. When he did, she recognised him as the sleazy guard from earlier. Apparently he recognised her as well as his face contorted into a cruel, lecherous grin.

"Well, well. If it ain't the cocky bitch from the gate. It's a shame that you happened to stumble across our little _entertainment_, but we can't have anyone spreading rumours that we, upstanding officers of the guard, were taking advantage of this lowly little slut now, can we? How about you forget this ever happened, and you get to keep your pretty body all in one piece. That sound like a good deal?"

Lynelle scowled in response. "You really are disgusting, you shameless pervert."

She stated, raising her axe in a fighting stance. The hard look in her eyes didn't falter, even if she was actually really nervous that she might get hurt. Even so, she couldn't abandon this girl to these pigs, so she stood her ground. The guards were irritated by this and the leader stuck his nose up slightly, so he was looking down at her.

"Tch, little Bitch. Get her." He ordered and one of the other guards lunged at her. She dived under his arm and rolled underneath it, then ducked quickly to dodge another swipe at her as he turned around. She started backing away until she hit something cold, rough and hard. _The wall! Shit!_ The guards began to skulk closer to her and her nervousness rose to borderline panic. She was trapped, with no way out and her death, or worse, was creeping closer. The closest guard lunged for her and she yelped, trying to preparing for the worst possibility…

But it never came. Instead, the guard dropped to his knees, spluttering and drowning from the blood filling his lungs with a gleaming, blood-soaked black arrow severing his jugular vein and impaling his throat. All eyes turned to a roof across the street, to black hooded man standing with an obsidian-black bow pointed in their direction, the soft silver moonlight silhouetting him like a wraith. The three guards shouted a plethora of colourful curse words as they drew their swords and tried to un-nerve the shadowed assassin.

Their taunting was cut short as a polished diamond axe tore into a second man's skull, his mouth hanging limply open as he stumbled. Before he fell, the assassin's eyes flashed a haunting amethyst and he disappeared from the roof, reappearing in an instant in front of the two living guards and the falling corpse. In a single, fluid movement combining grace and raw strength, he wretched the axe free and whipped around in a full circle, the axe's blade ripping through the third man's throat and tearing his blood vein right open, warm crimson liquid draining from the head and jetting from the body, miraculously and grimly avoiding the wraith-like assassin as if it too was scared of him. The last guard, the ringleader, fell numbly into his butt, an obvious patch of liquid staining the crotch of his trousers as he shook uncontrollably. The assassin morosely wiped the bloody axe on a fallen guard's uniform before sliding it back into its sheath behind his waist. After he retrieved and cleaned his arrow, he turned to regard the shivering mess that was the emotionally ruined guard. His voice was hauntingly chilling, so much that Lynelle shivered in spite of herself.

"It's been a while, Mikhael."

Ender said with a voice as dark as the aura he seemed to produce. The guard in question stammered out a horrified response

"N-no…not you! Anything but you, you monster!"

Ender chuckled humourlessly, drawing his mysterious jade green sword from behind his back and pointing at the ground next to him. He said nothing, but twisted the sword so that the light reflected threateningly off of it. Mikhael's eyes followed the light to the sword, to which his eyes widened.

"Is that… It can't be…"

"_Ender-Termina_." Ender interrupted with an ominously clear voice. "A blade forged from countless pearls of slaughtered Endermen infused into diamonds, forged by your father's 'monster-hunters'. Made by him, for him… and ultimately took his life from him."

"No…" the guard weakly protested. Ender ignored him and pressed the tip into the man's neck, just shy of breaking the skin.

"Why were you attacking that woman?"

"Huh?! I, uh..I.."

Ender scowled under his face-cloth and growled audibly. A swift flick of the wrist and the man's coin pouch tore open, spilling out a small fortune of emeralds and gold coins.

"I'll rephrase that. Who Paid You?"

"I… I Can't tell you…"

Ender pressed the sword back to his throat, this time a bead of crimson running from its tip.

"**Who?**" He almost roared. The guards immediately wet himself again and tried to hide behind his arms, except the blade threatening to end his life told him that would be a bad decision.

"Th…the… priest. It was high priest *nervous swallow* Evnidni."

"The Church?" Ender thought out loud before turning his attention back to the guard. "Why? What was the purpose?"

"I, I don't know… something fear, an…and winning 'hearts and minds', I…I wasn't really paying attention, I just got paid to do the job…"

"I see. If that's all…" Ender almost growled, re-positioning the sword at the side of his neck. As he was about to strike, he spotted the young woman from before, with long brunette hair that faded to blonde about halfway, leaning around the corner as subtly as possible, which wasn't very well, with a determined expression devoid of fear.

"…I'll let the wronged party decide your fate." He finished with a quick look to the teen-aged girl, who quickly hid around the corner. "I've already seen you, you can come out." He said, directed to the girl.

As she stepped around the corner, Ender could see her fully. She wasn't that far from Lynelle's age and she had a similar build, and her outfit was mostly white, with a white shirt with cut-off shoulders and white shorts, with a spot of colour coming from her flat-soled blue ankle boots. She didn't shrink under Ender's evaluative gaze, instead standing a little straighter and rolling her shoulders slightly. _Good, that shows she's got a backbone._ Ender thought wryly to himself.

"So you're really him? The Black Assassin?" she asked, not without fear but instead buried behind steely determination.

Ender nodded slowly a single time. "I see you're well informed. On to the task at hand, what of the accused?" He asked venomlessly, trying to avoid scaring the girl and Lynelle any more than he needed to, but Mikhael was still guilty and needed to be punished.

"Aside from the awful things he was very vocal about doing to me, what else has he done?" She asked with slight shudder and an edge in her voice.

"Murder of numerous innocent people under the orders of the highest bidder, usually the Church, including my mother." Ender replied with a bitter edge as he lowered his head so that the shadows of his hood covered his eyes. Wordlessly, the girl crossed over to him and embraced him in a silent hug. He froze for a moment before he returned the gesture with his free arm and she spoke in a low voice. "I'm so sorry. He deserves to die, so kill him for me."

Lynelle felt a pang of jealousy before she noticed the sleazy guard trying to escape slowly. In response, she walked over and tapped the side of his head with the flat edge of her axe, to which he froze and looked up in absolute terror.

"Going somewhere?" she asked sarcastically before she raised her voice to regain Ender's attention. "Your friend here's getting impatient."

The two strangers broke the comforting hold and Ender went back up to the snivelling guard. When he spoke, his voice was cold and unforgiving.

"Mikhael Mich-herilov, you are guilty, as was your father, of the slaughter of numerous innocent people and shall be punished accordingly. Your sentence… is Death. What are your last words?"

The guard in question paled to a shade that could rival clean chalk as he stammered out excuses and pleas for mercy, only to be cut short by Ender's command.

"Stand up."

He stood up, hopeful for a show of mercy, but his judge wasn't as forgiving as he had hoped. In that moment, the judge became the executioner as the blue-green blade of _Ender-Termina_ sank deep into his stomach and protruding out of his back, piercing several organs and ensuring a slow, agonising death.

As his body cooled on the ground, Ender turned to his company and pulled down the cloth covering his lower face. "I'm sorry that you had to see that, Lynelle. You too, but I'm afraid I don't know your name."

The blonde-brunette merely smiled and held out her hand for him to shake. After a short pause, and only after he did so, she answered his unasked question. "My name's Marie Kurono."

"I go by the name 'Ender', and the young woman next to you is Lynelle Haynes. She's, indirectly, the one that saved you. I wouldn't have made it in time if she hadn't distracted those guards."

Lynelle nodded and gave a small wave. "I don't know about _that_, but Ender does have a habit saving people just in time. I mean, that's how we met for Notch's sake!" she chuckled. Marie just smiled at her and turned her attention back to Ender.

"Can you train me to fight?" she asked with determination. In response, he was quiet for what seemed like a small eternity, when in fact it was no longer than 6 seconds, with piercing violet eyes slowly evaluating the two girls in front of him. After a second more of silence he spoke.

"You've both seen what the Church is really like now. I've known about this for a long time, but have been unable to do anything about it. Now that you two know, I'll ask you simply: Are you willing to fight?"

He received his answer in the form of two solemn and determined nods. He nodded in return and his face jerked into a small, wry smile.

"Then let's get ready for the revolution."

**I hope you enjoyed this (much delayed) chapter, and again I'm very sorry for the delay, but unfortunately I have an infinite number of reasons, from A-level exams/course-work to the dreaded writer's block. Anyway, see you in the next chapter!**


	4. Chapter 3: Grave

Chapter 3:

The distinct sound of swords clashing rang out through the quiet forest as two combatants sparred in the clearing around an old, large oak tree. Diamond met Ender-infused Diamond as a third figure followed the duel with calm, Ice blue eyes. The stronger fighter was leading, giving the occasional instruction or advice to his slightly younger pupil.

Lynelle swung her sword straight down with a grunt of effort, and Ender blocked before she recovered and tried a horizontal slash from the right. Ender responded by twisting his body so that his right side was facing her with his sword held at a sharp downwards angle that simultaneously protected his upper arm and lower ribs and waist, the incoming attack blocked effectively as he smoothly counter attacked with a rising sweep from low on his left. Lynelle met this with a swipe of her own and the pair locked blades for a moment before Ender slipped his sword under hers in a parry that flipped the weapon out of her hands, Ender's own sword pointed skyward. Ender followed it up with a drop straight to her neck, the bladed edge stopping a bare few millimetres from the flesh. Lynelle put her hands up in mock surrender and gave a disappointed pout. Ender noticed this and chuckled slightly.

"You're definitely improving, and quickly at that."

Lynelle gave a sad sigh as he returned _Ender-Termina _to its sheath on his back. "It's still not good enough…"

Ender put his hand on her arm and gave it an encouraging squeeze. "It's only been 4 days of training so far, yet you're showing weeks of improvement, no small feat I might add." He said with an amused smirk.

Lynelle and Marie had started to train with Ender on a daily basis ever since that incident in the village 4 days ago, the two of them taking to two different weapons each from Ender's personal arsenal; Lynelle had taken to Sword-fighting with an admirable talent for it, as well as learning on how to use her axe to fight or defend herself, in the meantime, Ender was teaching Marie how to use a bow and arrows to lethal effect, and she was also showing promise with daggers and short-blades. Why they only chose weapons Ender was a masterful user of, he didn't know, since he had offered to find some other weapons, like spears or crossbows, but they'd insisted that he teach them what he knew best.

"Tch." She laughed and shook her head with a smile as Marie strolled over from the fallen branch she was watching the fight from. Ender walked over to where his second sword was now sticking out of the dirt and retrieved it, brushing off the dirt and returning it to its place on his hip as he walked back over to the two chatting girls. The sword was still half-way out of the sheath when Marie took a glance at it and spoke up.

"You know, those swords are beautifully made. Is it true that some weapons, like those swords, are given names, depending on the wielder?"

Ender gave a long, curious glance. "Yeah, sometimes. It's not just swords though; it's usually any kind of weapon that's special in some way. All of my weapons are named, but not by me. It's usually because of what I've done with them or what they represent that grants their names. My second sword-"

He paused and drew the diamond sword from his hip. It was indeed a beautiful weapon, as was its twin on his back. It was just under a metre long, maybe 90cm, with blade taking about 70cm of that. The blade was about 4cm wide, double edged, and narrowed into a smooth point at the top. The hand guard was also diamond, and it curled forwards slightly, but not smoothly, more angularly like the joints of a suit of armour. The handle was bound in leather and the diamond pommel at its base was shaped as a hexagon, pointed parallel with the blade. Ender-Termina was designed the same way, only with darker blue-green Ender-diamonds. It was after all this sword's twin.

"-has been called my 'Reckoning', for it was passed judgement on and ended the lives of many people. My axe-"

He returned 'Reckoning' to his hip and drew the diamond axe from its sheath on his lower back.

"-Is my 'Sorrow', as it's a reminder of my mother, who was a woodman's daughter, so she carried an axe with her, much like Lynelle and her 'Tomarch'"

He returned 'Sorrow' to its place, and quickly disarmed Lynelle of said weapon, un-clipping it and pulling it way in a split second. He slowly inspected the tool, while the girls were still reeling from the speed in which he had moved.

"Did you see that?" Marie whispered

"I know, that was insane! How does he move that fast?" Lynelle whispered back

"I don't have a clue!"

Ender spoke again, regaining the girls' attention.

"This is a fairly well-made piece. How did you get it?" He asked with a mildly curious expression. Lynelle was stunned for a moment, but quickly regained her composure.

"Er, well, my grandfather is a Blacksmith over in Mistral City, a few days journey from here. He was messing around and experimenting with smithing materials, and he tried mixing glowstone dust into some molten Iron. This was the prototype, a light source and an axe rolled into one, hence the name 'Tomarch'; a 'Toma'hawk and a To'rch'."

Ender nodded and gave an affirmative hum while Marie said "Oh, Okay."

"Anyway, you were telling us about your weapons? You never told us about your black bow or the dagger you keep in your boot."

"Hm? Oh, my bow is my 'Pain'. This used to be the weapon that killed my family, 'Holy Rectifier', so I stole it from the bastard's corpse after I tortured him to death and used Obsidian, the Cursed Hell-gate Stone, to twist the 'holy weapon' to one that serves towards my revenge."

"Wait, I thought you said that guard, er… Mikhael, was the one responsible for killing your mother..."

"He was part of the group that attacked us, the last surviving member at that, and he was the one to lead the attack, but the son-of-a-bitch archer was the one who physically ended her life, so I vowed revenge on the entire Church, as it was their words that are the root cause of all this suffering."

As he said this, Ender's hands slowly travelled the length of the bow, tracing its contours. His eyes darkened but burned a fierce violet as he traced its unusual shape. As the limbs extend away from the grip, they curved forwards for a third of their length, away from the archer, before coming to a sharp joint and them curving back towards the wielder, and the glassy purple-black Obsidian coated its shape. Ender drew an arrow from the black leather quiver on his back and gently tossed it to Marie, who caught it deftly with one hand. It too was black, with smooth black flights and a black-steel arrow head. She showed the arrow to Lynelle, who gave it a quick look before she tossed it back. Flipping it skilfully back into the quiver, he spoke again.

"The last weapon is the heaviest to bear for me. This dagger-" He drew it from the leather holster in his boot. It was an intricately detailed weapon with a gleaming silver double-edged blade about 15cm long and a small hand guard depicting a pair of Swallow's wings, with a small emerald encrusted into the pommel at the end of the hilt. "- is the weapon I used to take my first life, and then over a dozen more. It is a reminder for my crimes, and the past I cannot escape from. This is my 'Guilt'."

The two girls gave a solemn, respectfully quiet response; Marie with a slight nod and Lynelle by dropping her head slightly. He quietly slipped the weapon back into its place and turned away from the girls.

"You are free to go. Lynelle, you should go stop your friends from getting suspicious. Marie, you too. You could be with the break after training for 4 days straight."

He instructed as he started to walk away, and Marie gave a nod back as she started off in the direction, but Lynelle grabbed her arm to stop her before calling out to Ender.

"Wait! Where are you going?"

He stopped and glanced back at her, eyes making contact for a second and in that short moment, she saw the mourning and grievance behind those beautiful amethysts.

"To visit my Mother."

* * *

Lynelle and Marie were very careful not to attract attention to themselves as they shadowed their friend and mentor as he travelled deeper into the forest. As he travelled down the path, his expression was difficult to read, but it definitely not a positive one.

As they walked, the girls also happened to notice the flowers were becoming more and more purple in frequency, until they came to a clearing at was a sea of amethyst and violet. At its centre was a small grassy knoll with a Celtic stone cross at its peak, about 4 feet tall, a clear indicator of the clearing's purpose. Keeping to the shadowed undergrowth, the girls watched as Ender systematically unclipped his weapons before he stepped over the threshold, into the clearing, starting with his bow, then his quiver, followed by his axe, then his sword 'Reckoning'. All of his weapons were removed and placed in a neat pile, with the exception of the silver dagger 'Guilt', which he hid underneath his trouser leg out of respect. He wordlessly shed his long coat and folded it over the weapons, revealing a set of leather sheaths, each with a previously unseen throwing knife, 3 on each side, on top of a thick black dress shirt and fitted black waistcoat. He unfastened the holsters and dropped them onto the pile before he continued down a stone path towards the grave.

As Ender reached the top of the hill, the full weight of his grief hit him like grind-stone; slowly, the pain increasing and adding pressure gradually. He closed his eyes and attempted to control his breathing before he attempted to speak, lest his words fail him. Slowly, and with great sadness, he opened his eyes and focussed his gaze on the stone cross ahead of him, his mouth forming a small, sombre smile.

"Hi, Mum."

The wind blew slightly, causing a few purple petals to flutter across his vision, between him and the grave, as if in response.

"I'm sorry I haven't been to visit in a while, I had to leave for a while to get rid of a group of bounty hunters that wanted me dead."

He gave a small laugh, devoid of any real humour before he looked up at the late morning sky and then back down at the stone cross.

"But it hasn't been all bad. What was it you used to tell me? Judge them not on what your eyes can see, but the strength of their heart? The two girls, Lynelle and Marie, they're proof that not everyone is the same, but… I'm afraid of getting them killed. I…"

He stopped and gritted his teeth, clenching his fists. He slowly lowed himself so he was kneeling on one knee in front of the stone cross, head hung and one hand resting on his bent knee, the other on the ground.

"I know you wouldn't want me to go down this path, you didn't want this kind of life for me, but I _need_ to fight so that you, and I, can finally be at peace. I needed to, I'd burn this twisted world until there's nothing but ashes, and then I'd burn those too, and I hate myself because I know that I can. My heart's been dragged so far into this black nightmare; I'm never going to be able to rest until you can. I'm so sorry, Mum. I'm so sorry… please forgive me for what I'm going to do, but this world needs to change, even if it crumbles in the process."

Three singular tears rolled from his eyes and softly pattered the ground. Ender shook a shaky breath through gritted teeth and continued to cry as he knelt in front of the grave. A warm feeling, almost like a kind hand, touched his face, as if his mother's spirit was forgiving him and comforting him, so for the first time in a long time, he smiled slightly.

"Thank you, Mum."

He stayed like this, kneeling in front of the grave, until his predator-like hearing picked up on two sets of footsteps approaching slowly from behind. He made no move to react as Lynelle and Marie appeared at his sides and put a hand of his shoulders. He looked at Lynelle at his right, then Marie on his left and gave them both a small smile to silently placate their worry for him. They both stood up and offered him a hand, to which he grabbed both and pulled himself up. Together they walked back to the edge of the forest where Ender had left his weapons, but as he went to pick up his knife holster he noticed something different: a glow-stone infused axe and a silver tanto knife with a gold hand guard and pommel were resting next to his weapons. Lynelle leaned across to retrieve the axe, clipping it back to her hip as Marie did the same with the tanto knife, sliding it into a sheath hidden behind her back. Ender let himself a dry smile at the sign of respect they showed towards his mother's grave and continued to re-equip his weapons. Finally securing the black bow 'Pain' onto his back, he turned to the two waiting girls.

"Thank you, you two."

They gave him a little, respectful smile and a slight nod from Marie, but Ender wasn't done. His own small smile dropped to a more serious expression as he alternated between the two girls' eyes.

"Listen, I need to talk you about something. Something… Important. I'm not sure how to say this, but…"

Lynelle interrupted with a tone that was sharp, yet comforting. "We're not going to leave your side until we're done."

"You said yourself that you're willing to burn the world to ash if you need to, and we're gonna be there to support you until you can find the peace for your mum. We're not going let you push us away and suffer on your own." Marie finished.

"So you heard that huh?"

Ender looked at them with a sad smirk before he momentarily dropped his head and then straightened up, look directly at the two girls. He said nothing except smirking again and enveloping the two into a thankful hug, resting his head between their ears. The girls tensed at the sudden movement before surrendering to the embrace and settling into it.

"Thank you. Just Promise me, that you'll stay with me from now on." Ender said in a low voice, as he gripped the girls a little bit tighter. Marie, being a little shorter than him nodded her head slowly before resting it on his shoulder, and Lynelle, who was a little smaller than her, responded by resting her head in the crook of his neck. The trio stayed like this for a few more moments before Ender broke the embrace and smiled at the two.

"I thought you were going to go into the village today?"

Lynelle was caught off-guard by the question. "Uh, yeah, I was going to introduce Marie to my friends there. You know, so I have an excuse for disappearing all the time."

Ender again surprised her, and Marie, by holding out his arm to each girl. "Let's get going then."

Noting the incredulous looks the girls were giving him, he spoke again with a lady-killer smile. "It's only polite for a gentleman to escort two lovely ladies by the arm."

At the comment, Lynelle blushed, and even Marie had a slight dusting for pink touch her cheeks as they looped their arms through Ender's. With a small victorious smile, he led them in the direction of the village.

* * *

When they reached the threshold that separated the woodlands and the grass plains, a question suddenly came to Lynelle's mind.

"Hey Ender, how are you going to get into the village without raising the alarm? I mean, you do kind of stand out."

Ender stopped walking and gave her a face that said 'I know something you don't'. Marie raised an eyebrow and he smirked back. He drew a flat golden-bronze disc about the same size as a tennis ball from one of the pockets inside his coat. Upon closer inspection, the circle was divided by a perfect triangle, with a small shard of an ender pearl embedded into each segment and a small triangular pyramid raised out of the centre. He placed the disc on the ground and tapped the pyramid. The pyramid rose about half a metre connected by a purple light. The three outer segments did the same, extending about half a metre away from the base. When they were in position, lines of purple light joined them together for from a large pyramid made of light. The two girls watched in awe as this happened, and Ender explained the device.

"It's a dimensional storage device. It uses ender-pearl fragments and my own natural dimensional-magic from my father to open a small pocket dimension that I can use to store anything I want."

He lightly tossed his other weapons through the glassy purple light, keeping 'Guilt' in his boot and 'Ender-Termina' on his back, watching as they disappeared with a ripple along its surface. He snapped his fingers and the device retracted. As he slipped it back into his pocket, he kept his coat and the black cloth he used to cover his face, which turned out to be a scarf, wrapped loosely around his neck.

"What else can those powers do?" Marie asked with a mild intrigue. Ender responded by hovering his hand over his ender-black skin and with a slow movement almost wiped it away; leaving the same pale skin that covered the rest of his face, the only noticeable trait was the thin scar-like line indicating where the patch had been in places.

"I can distort the space around myself as a kind of disguise, but I can't go full-on chameleon and turn invisible. It's great for the time it lasts, but I can't keep it going for more than 12 hours at the most. It's not normally a problem, but you never know."

"Are you done?" Lynelle asked, half out of boredom and half out of disappointment. Ender smirked at this and decided to entertain her a bit more.

"Mostly. You know, this disguise works on other people too. Watch." He snapped his fingers and Lynelle's hair turned a stunning silvery white, and Marie's turned shiny ebony black. "You like?"

Marie was absently stroking her newly raven hair as she muttered "Oh, I like…" and Lynelle was lightly tugging her silver locks as if to check they are real.

"This is so cool!"

He snapped his fingers again and they changed back to normal. The girls pouted at him and he put his hands up defensively.

"My power drains faster, times by the amount of people I use it on, so I could last about 4 hours with the three of us. I might need to keep the disguise up for longer than I expect, so I'll need to save on the power."

Marie gave a defeated sigh and Lynelle made a cute little "Mou…" as a complaint, but Ender offered his arms and the two gave in quickly. With that, the trio continued on towards the Village.

* * *

At the gate, the guards were still moderately alert after Ender's 'terrorist attack' (as they called it) 4 days ago. They let Lynelle pass without worry, but stopped and searched Marie. Upon finding her Tanto knife, she quickly diverted their attention and slipped past with the ease and grace of a light breeze. Finally, Ender walked up and they quickly noted the sword on his back and stopped him.

"Stop there and Present some identification." The younger guard of the two demanded. Ender stopped and looked at them with a bored expression before handing them a worn packet of papers. Taking them out, the guard gave them a quickly read before signalling for the older guard to come over. After a hushed conversation, the older guard took the papers as the younger one went back to the other guard post.

"So Mr… 'Samuel Mortimer', it says you are a member of the free-lance guard group Raven's Watch, and that you're authorised to carry a sword and a secondary dagger. Is it safe to assume that you are carrying those weapons with you now?"

"Inactive member, yes. And, yes, I am carrying them with me." Ender replied, lifting up his trouser leg to show the guard his dagger.

"Are you carrying any other weapon of any kind?"

"No."

"Are you carrying any contraband prohibited by the Holy Church Defensive Garrison?"

"Define Contraband."

The guard scoffed at his answer "Black magic, unregistered potions and the like."

"Then No." He lied, mentally cloaking the pocket-dimension with his powers.

"Are you aware that we are required to search your person for such Items?"

Ender gave a short, amused laugh. "Go ahead."

* * *

At the same time, Lynelle and Marie were catching up with Lynelle's friends at their usual place by the well. Marie smiled at them and spoke.

"Hi, the name's Marie Kurono."

Jordan smiled back and held his hand out, which she shook firmly. "My name's Jordan, that's Dawn, Adam, Mitch on top of the well, Dan with the wolf, Duncan, Kim and Tiffany." He said, waving a hand in the direction of each person as he called their name.

Lynelle looked around for a second, but she couldn't spot Ender. Sighing, she added "There _was_ someone else I wanted to introduce you to, but he's not here right now. He'll catch up in a minute or two."

After talking for a few minutes, two of other girls from the village, who Lynelle didn't talk to very often, came up to her with an excited giggle.

"Hey, Lynn! There some hottie waiting for you in the main square!"

Lynelle and Marie both looked at the pair. "Hm?"

"Some guy with sexy purple eyes was asking for ya! Is he your boyfriend or something?" the other girl squeaked out excitedly.

Lynelle gave them a sarcastic look before they ran off and she turned to her friends "That would be the guy I wanted to introduce you to."

When they got to the square, Ender was laying lengthways on a bench, blocking out the late noon/early afternoon sun with his sleeve. Lynelle tapped his boot and he moved his sleeve to look at her, his amethyst eyes connecting with her emerald ones with a smile. He broke the gaze to look at Lynelle's friends, smiling again when they locked with Marie's Ice-blue. In one smooth motion, he straightened up and stood up from the bench. He took a long, gauging look at the group and noticed the apprehensive look from Jordan. _'I'll have to keep an eye on that one, he could be a problem'_ he thought to himself before he put on his best lady-killer smile.

"Nice to Meet you. My name's Samuel Mortimer."

**A/N: Thanks for reading this chapter of Ender's Heart. If you were wondering, Samuel Mortimer is an alias, not Ender's real name. If your interested in my stories, feel free to vote for the one you want to see next on the Poll on my profile! Until Next time, see ya!**


	5. Chapter 4: Hiding in Plain Sight

Chapter 4

"Nice to meet you. My name's Samuel Mortimer. Call me Sam if you'd like."

Ender introduced himself casually as Lynelle and Marie shot each other a quickly look and then a questioning one at Ender, who nodded almost imperceptibly. Having received confirmation to play along, Lynelle and Marie started some idle conversation with Dawn and Tiffany, while Ender (under the guise of Sam) enjoyed a bit of good-natured banter with Duncan as Kim stuck to his arm, occasionally piping up an opinion or letting out a little giggle at one of Duncan's or 'Sam's' little witticisms. Jordan was watching the exchange with a edged look, only on occasion saying anything, and even then only offering short, few-word answers or a few loaded questions sent 'Sam's' way. Ender mentally re-iterated his note to keep an eye on him because he was definitely … Off. Before he could press the matter, the sky got a few shades darker and a low rumble sounded from an approaching rain-storm. He frowned at the sound, but said nothing. Jordan went from frowning at him to frowning at the sky, and then frowned at him again before diverting his attention to his friends.

"I guess it's going to rain soon. You're all welcome to hang out at my place." He suggested, but Kim shook her head.

"We went to your place not too long ago; let's go to my house instead."

Jordan was apprehensive at first, as if he might protest, but must have realised that would look strange, so he kept quiet. Ender's calculating eyes fixed him with a sharp, pointed look and tried to decipher what the other boy was thinking. As the group as declared their approval and they started to follow Kim, Ender's glare didn't falter until Marie put her hand on his shoulder and his eyes softened as he looked her, but then immediately hardened again when he looked back at Jordan. Marie followed his eyes and frowned a little.

"Do you think he knows something?" she said in a low, quiet voice, her eyes still locked on the back of said boy's head.

"I can't say for sure. I don't want to try anything just yet, he seems close with Lynelle and I don't want her to feel upset, but I'll need to see what tricks he's got up his sleeve."

"Agreed, but we should warn her about it, just to make sure."

"Alright."

They fell into silence, silently planning on what do about this potential problem, when Tiffany bounced over "Heya, Sam! Hey Marie! Whattcha talkin' 'bout over here?" she asked in her usual,, bubbly tone.

Marie shrugged her shoulders. "Not much. Just complaining about the weather, deciding what to eat later, you know; general stuff."

Ender smiled at her response and nodded slightly. "Yeah, pretty much."

With that, Tiffany seemed satisfied by her answer, if her mischievous grin and the extra bounce in her step as she skipped back to the front of group where any kind of indicator.

Ender and Marie shared a glance at each other with a look that said 'What was that about?' but kept to the silence that reigned as they walked.

* * *

Frankly speaking, Ender enjoyed the time he spent with Lynelle's friends. He got on the best with Duncan because of his intelligence and wit during their conversation and Kim because of her generally kind-hearted nature, but the others were nice enough to hang out with as well. Dawn was welcoming and respectful, Adam was a bit big-headed but overall a good guy, Dan didn't talk a lot but when he did it was often insightful and sound advice or observations and Mitch, overlooking his whole rebellious teen thing, was nice enough to hang around with.

The only two people Ender viewed with the slightest animosity were Tiffany and Jordan. Tiffany meant well, but her suffocatingly over-energetic demeanour and her all-too enthusiastic attempts to pry into Ender's personal life were grinding away at his seemingly cast-iron patience and it was seriously starting to annoy him. At this point in the afternoon, he was debating on using the dagger hidden in his boot to cut down one of Kim's curtains and use them to tie and gag the pest of a teenaged girl.

His other quarry was so for an entirely different reason. Jordan's (mostly) well-hidden aggression and distrust of the ender-hybrid hadn't escaped his notice, but Ender couldn't exactly act on a slight suspicion and threaten him at the tip of a blade, especially when he's such a close friend to Lynelle. The assassin had several theories as to what the boy was hiding, but he couldn't call him out on them if he didn't tread carefully. After another pointed glare from the shades-wearing potential threat, Ender was about to lose his mile-long temper when the group's resident rebel pitched him the perfect opportunity to test his most likely theory in the form of a simply question.

"So, Sam, what do think about these recent murders? This 'Black Assassin'? Do think we're in danger?" Mitch asked with bored brown eyes.

Kim was quick to admonish him to the suggestion. "Mitch! Don't say things like that!"

The hoodie-wearing teen just shrugged and turned his attention back to 'Sam'. "Well?"

"From the assassin? No. Overall, however, maybe a different story…" he answered smoothly, drawing a curious gaze from most of the group, an understanding one from Lynelle and Marie, who knew of the guards' involvement in the planned rape and murder of the later, and a questioning, almost interrogating glare from his target.

"What makes you think that we're not in danger from this assassin?" Duncan asked, leaning on the coffee table they had gathered around with his chin resting in the palm of his hand.

"Doesn't match his M.O." Seeing the blank stares from about half the group he decided to elaborate. "It means Mode of Operation; all of his previous victims were guards or clergymen with the Holy Church, so I think that he's targeting them specifically." Understanding and a slight relief visibly washed over the others, except for Jordan. He flinched so slightly even the most attentive of people could have missed it. But not Ender. He saw. And he capitalised on it. _'That's almost confirmed that pretty boy here's a Church spy. Just to make sure…'_

"Truth be told, I think we're more at risk from the very same Church he's been picking off. They've got less-than-respectable business going on behind closed doors. Wouldn't surprise me if they had a spy watching us right now." Ender stated with a calm, level demeanour that seemed incongruous with his words. This time, Jordan couldn't fully restrain his panic as his eyes widened and his breathing stopped for long enough to eliminate any lingering doubt, before he managed to school his features back to an expression that his 'friends' wouldn't find suspicious. The boy was a spy for the Church.

"Are really sure about the assassin though? I mean, he's still an armed criminal." Dan pointed out, as he scratched Grimm, his dog, behind the ears.

"No, he's not!" Marie quietly shouted before she clamped her hand over her mouth at her own sudden outburst. Realising that all eyes on her, and after a small nod from Ender, she explained herself with an abridged version of what happened with the guards.

"He's not just some criminal, He's more of a vigilante. I was about to be attacked,_ raped_, by some guards and he saved my life. I hid nearby as he interrogated the leader, and he said that he was paid to do it. By the Church! After that I ran away and bumped into Lynelle, and told her what happened." She said with a downcast look, but she spotted Ender give her a small, sincere smile and a single subtle nod from the corner of her eye as Lynelle came over and wrapped her in a comforting hug, not saying a word.

The rest of the group was intrigued. "Wait, you've met him? What does he look like?" Dawn asked with raised eyebrow.

Marie shook her head slightly. "I don't know. It was too dark and his face was covered by his hood and a black scarf over his mouth."

Jordan was watching the scene with darkening interest, Ender noted, as he asked a question. "He's still seen _your_ face. Are you sure you're safe from him? Where are you staying? I'm sure we can organise some kind of protective detail…"

Ender frowned, unseen, at this. _'What's your game, Church boy?'_ he snarled in his own head. _'I'll drag you through the seven circles of the Nether myself if you so much as touch the girls!'_ He was shocked for a second at the aggression in his own mental voice for a moment, physically blinking at himself. _'I guess I'm more protective of Marie and Lynelle than I thought, but now's not the time for that.' _he shook his head to clear his thoughts.

Marie wasn't entirely sure how to answer the question and flashed a glance at Ender. Seeing the she needed help, he gave her a few quick hand-signals and a slight nod. 'Safe house number 3, I have a plan'. She nodded with her eyes and gave Jordan the location. _'I hope you know what you're doing, Ender.'_

* * *

The sun was sinking slightly lower in the later afternoon sky as Lynelle strolled through the afternoon market. She was in her own head, sorting through the silent conversation she caught between Ender and Marie. _'I have a plan, huh? A plan for what? And why?'_ she was pulled from her thoughts as a hand softly but firmly gripped her wrist and pulled her into an alley between two stalls, out of sight. She whirled around and her emerald eyes locked with amethyst. _'Exactly the hybrid I wanted to see…'_ She muttered to herself as she studied his serious, calm expression. His voice was clipped, evidence to the fact that he wasn't happy.

"Lynelle, I need to talk to you."

She raised an eyebrow and listed her head in concern, but didn't speak, instead motioning for him to continue.

"I take it you noticed our 'conversation' earlier?" She nodded in response.

"You're not going to like what I'm going to tell you, but it's important."

Lynelle's eyes widened slightly at the tone of his voice. It was hard, and it was serious. She hesitantly asked. "What is it?"

"It's about your friend in the suit, Jordan. He's a Church spy."

Lynelle's breath hitched for a moment. "Are you sure? How can you tell? I've known him for three years and I've never seen him do anything with the Church!"

"From the way he reacted earlier. Whenever the Church was brought up, he'd slip up ever so slightly."

Lynelle frowned, crossed her arms and opened her mouth to protest. Before she could say anything, Ender raised a hand to keep her quiet.

"I know that's not enough to convince you, and I don't want to act without knowing for sure, Hence the plan. If he falls for it, it could prove he's guilty. He knows Marie has made contact with the 'Black Assassin' currently at the top of the Church's shit-list. If he's part of the Church, you can bet that they're gonna want to get their hands on whatever information she knows by any means necessary, so I told her to give him a fake address, and if the Guards show up in force then, I'm sorry to say, your friend is a spy."

"Alright, but you were right; I don't like it. I just can't get behind the idea that a close friend I've known for 3 years can be hiding something like this…"

"I can't expect you to, and I'm sorry to have to make you. Anyway, let's not talk about that…" he began with a sad smile, before he was interrupted but a butch, too-masculine-to-be-real voice from behind.

"Hey, Babe. What you doing in an alley way like this?"

Ender turn to look at the newcomer, and Lynelle peered around as well, her face falling into a frown once she saw him. In the entrance was a burly man with a sandy coloured buzz-cut, clad in a blacksmith's uniform. He was tall, slightly taller than the 6'01'' Ender, and his muscles looked like something you'd expect from an experienced blacksmith: utterly ripped.

"Garrett." Lynelle said with a dangerous tone, one that was monotone and growling at the same time, while Ender fixed him with a look so cold it could freeze fires. He didn't seem to get the hint as his face formed a predatory grin, and he strutted over to where the pair was standing.

"What you say you ditch this Emo bean-pole and have some fun with a real man?"

Lynelle didn't so much as smile, but instead wrapped her arms around Ender's arm without breaking her glare towards him. "Really? You know where I can find one?" She asked and Ender smirked, an action that didn't go unnoticed by the blacksmith.

"Very funny. Now let's go and have some real fun." He insisted, making Ender 'Tch' in irritation and Lynelle to scowl at him.

"No, Garrett. Leave me alone."

"Come on Lynn, don't be a bitch…" he started, grabbing Lynelle's wrist in his calloused hand. He started to pull away, but stopped when he felt an Icy, iron-like grip crushing his own wrist. Following it back up the arm, Garrett found himself caught in a dark, withering look that could make Herobrine piss himself.

"I believe the lady just told you No, asshole." Ender growled, adding enough pressure to make Garrett's bones creak. He grimaced and let go of Lynelle's wrist before rounding on Ender.

"Who do you think you are you little shit!?" The blacksmith roared. Ender blinked slowly, undaunted by his yelling.

"Your worst nightmare if you don't leave right now."

The blacksmith roared again and tried to punch Ender in the face with his free hand, but the hybrid just sidestepped the attack and sharply twisted the arm he still held behind his back. Garrett tried to break the hold by throwing his weight backwards, but Ender fluidly slipped out from behind him and flipping him over his shoulder, causing him to hit the cobblestones hard. He got up and blindly struck out with his right fist, only for Ender to deflect it without batting an eyelid, sending it sailing past his head and exposing himself for attack. Ender struck him in the ribs with a snap-kick, and followed up with a sweep kick as he stumbled back that connected with his flailing wrist with a loud crack, sending the larger name down, howling in pain. The whole affair took less than 2 minutes, and Ender was completely unfazed by the event. Garrett however was nursing his most likely broken wrist while sobbing in pain.

"I'm sorry; did I break your girlfriend?" Ender asked without any kind of inflection, stating it like a normal question.

"You bastard!"

"I'll take that as a yes." Ender glanced at him briefly before holding his hand out to Lynelle. "Come on, let's go."

"Hey, where do you think you're going? Come back here!" Garrett roared, face red from rage. Lynelle and Ender shared a quick look, and Lynelle rolled her eyes. Without a word, she stepped over to him, gave him a harsh glare, and kicked him straight in the crotch. Hard. Ender gave an impressed whistle as the blacksmith's voice gave out and became a hoarse wheeze. With a sweet smile, Lynelle took his hand again and the pair stepped back out into the market.

They were walking only a few minutes before another, older voice called out to them, and Lynelle's face lit up at the sound. She looked over to the waving older man in the light blue polo and blue jeans and happily waved back. The man started to walk towards them, and Lynelle tugged Ender to meet him halfway. When they were close enough, Lynelle broke away from Ender to give the man a quick hug.

"Dad, you're home early!"

Ender watched with a smile and a raised eyebrow and Lynelle let go of her father and went back to holding Ender's arm, which her father watched with the same reaction as Ender, which then turned into a full-blown grin.

"So, Lynelle's got a boyfriend eh? Nice to meet you, the name's Steve Haynes. I'm her dad."

Lynelle's face exploded into a blush and she desperately tried to bury herself into Ender's shirt as he and her father shared a quick laugh and shook hands.

"Samuel Mortimer, likewise. And no, I'm not Lynelle's boyfriend, not unless she wants me to be." Ender chuckled. Steve chuckled a little as well, mainly at his daughter's embarrassment, but stopped suddenly and focussed his eyes on Ender's face.

"Say, where'd you get that nasty burn? How does someone like you get burnt like that?" he asked with a touch of concern, and an even smaller touch of accusation. Ender quickly realised that he was referring to the camouflaged End-skin, and how it does look like a burn scar when hidden. _'He's sharp, not even the Church spy noticed that.'_

"Running into a burning building to save someone, as cliché as that sounds. I'm part of Raven's Watch, the free-lance guard group out of Mistral. Well, I'm on leave." He replied _'That's not technically a lie either. I AM part of Raven's Watch, even if it's only a cover, and I have ran though plenty of burning buildings to save more than my fair share of people.'_

"You're crazy, you know that?" Steve laughed, clapping his hand on Ender's shoulder with enough to knock him slightly off-balance. Steadying himself, he smirked at the man.

"So I've been told."

Steve just chuckled and pulled out his day/night pocket watch. Checking the time, he sighed and put it away. "Looks like it's going to be getting dark soon, so I'd best be heading home. I take it you're sleeping at a friend's?"

Lynelle sighed dejectedly "Oh, okay. Yeah, I'm staying at Kim's tonight."

"Okay, good. Stay safe Lynn, and Lynn's Not-boyfriend." He said with a small grin and a flippant wave as he began to walk away. As soon as he was out of sight, Ender checked his own watch and looked at Lynelle.

"It's time."

* * *

It was later at night, with the moon just replacing the sun in the sky, at which three black-cloaked wraiths quietly slinked around the rooftops of the sleepy village, pulling out a small arsenal of weapons from a supernatural, glowing purple glass-like pyramid. Ender flashed a look at Lynelle and Marie underneath some of his spare coats, his 'human' disguise forgone and his natural face hidden under the cloth, and his amethyst eyes silently asked them of their readiness. With a nod from both, he directed their attention to a small, nondescript house clustered within a small clump of equally nondescript houses.

"That's the place?" Marie asked quietly, eyeing the structure warily.

"Yeah. If they show up, you know the plan." Ender replied, in a low voice to avoid attention.

"Got it."

"Right." Lynelle said in a low voice, upset just touching the surface of her tone. Ender looked over and gently took her hand. She looked up at him and her eyes met the warmth in his.

"Still upset about this?" he asked, she nodded. He continued. "You know why we have to do this?" Another nod. "Even if he really is what I think he is, we won't kill him unless we absolutely have to. Okay?" A sad smile this time. She nodded a third time and turned her attention back to the trap-building. Ender did the same in time to see a group of guards, about 6 of them, approach the building, ready to fight. One of them had his helmet off, and his face was clear to see in the haunting silver moonlight.

Lynelle began to sob quietly, Marie grimaced and dropped her head and Ender's eyes hardened to purple steel. "Well, there's no doubt that he's part of the Church now. Let's go."

Jordan stood below them, in full guard armour with his helmet tucked under his arm, giving orders for the other's to surround the building's only exits. He ironically knocked on the door himself, waiting for a reply. When none came, he flashed a glance at the guard covering the window next to him, who just shrugged. With a flip of his hand, the guard prepared to bust open the door. The motion was cut short by a midnight black arrow, glancing past Jordan's neck with a shallow cut and ending the guard's life by piercing his brain. He whipped around; his eye's catching a single black coated assassin standing, bow in hand, on a roof further down the street. The assassin sheathed his bow, and drew two twin diamond longswords, although one was much darker than the other, before dropping down into the shadows in the street below. Jordan ordered his guards to attack, but before they could take two steps, a second assassin, a girl if the long black hair was any indication, dropped down from the roof behind them, sinking a silver Tanto blade to the crook of one guard's neck before elegantly flipping off on him and slicing the throat of a second. Before the other guards could turn to attack her, the first assassin crossed the distance between them in a split-second, burying the darker blade into one man's chest before slicing up another's chest with his other sword and bisecting him with his darker sword. While his back was turned, a fifth guard tried to strike, but fell short when a third assassin, with snow white hair spilling out of her hood, tore a softly glowing Iron axe through his calf and he fell over. The assassin did him the mercy of killing him quickly, by stabbing him in the heart with a thin, elegant sabre.

Jordan was numb in shock from the event, but managed to try and run while the first assassin, who was most likely male, was talking to the third, white haired assassin. His attempt wasn't successful as the second assassin, the black-haired girl, grabbed his collar in a firm grip and whipped the blade of her Tanto knife to his throat, causing him to swallow nervously and look apprehensively back at the hooded assassin with the dagger. At the same time, Lynelle was badly shaken up, and Ender put his hand on her shoulder.

"I-I've killed someone. I've actually taken someone's life…" she stuttered out, but Ender squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.

"It's okay to be shaken by this; it's never easy the first time. If you didn't kill him, he would have killed me. Besides, It's was my plan, so the guilt is on my conscience. You're not to blame for wanting to protect a close friend."

"I-I Just…" She struggled, before Ender wrapped her in a firm hug.

"It's okay. Now, we've got another problem to deal with right now." He said before releasing her from the hug and stepping away with his hands on her upper-arms. She nodded with a short hum and he started to walk towards Jordan, whose attention snapped back to him at the click of his boots on the cobblestone path.

"Well, well. It seems like Church is recruiting Pretty-boys now." He taunted, Jordan frowning at the comment.

"So you're the Black Assassin? Why're you here? To kill the girl who lives here to make sure my little informant doesn't squeal?"

"Not quite…" he started, making a gesture to assassin holding the tanto. She stepped back and flicked her hood down. Jordan looked over and then gave a cock-sure grin.

"Well, look as that. Marie. I knew there was something off about you, the way you jumped to this criminal's defence. Why are you working for him, are you after his body or something?" he snickered uncharacteristically.

"Get your head out of the gutter, Altar Boy. You'll hurt my feelings…" she countered in mock hurt. "Besides, you're the one that's in the fire right now. Isn't that right, Lynn?" She asked, glancing at her white-haired counterpart. Jordan's face dropped as he watched her flick her hood down and watched the white hair retreat back up her head, replaced by her usual auburn locks. When she raised her head, her eyes swam with disappointment and hurt.

"So it's true. You really are with the Church…"

"Lynn, wait, I…" He tried to speak, but she refused to listen, so he turned on the still-hooded Ender. "You! What did you do to her? What did to tell her!" he roared, demanding answers.

"The truth. All of your Church's darkness, and its lies. I showed her just how evil you all truly are."

"Evil!? You want to talk about evil!? You monsters murdered my parents!"

"How truly ironic. I can say those exact words to you as well." Ender's voice dropped slightly, taking on a more feral, growling tone at the last sentence. He pulled his hood and face-scarf down, revealing his identity and his end-skin. "After all, It's a miracle I'm still alive with the amount of anti-Ender crap you sing to the hills. We're the abominations? You're the one's that need to be 'cleansed', not people like my _human mother!_"

"How dare you!"

"I dare."

Jordan snapped and charged at Ender, but he was met with a throwing knife in the shoulder and stumbled. In that moment, Ender counter-charged, meeting him head-on and pushing him straight back, pinning him to the wall with his silver 'Guilt' dagger at his throat.

"I promised Lynelle I wouldn't kill you if I didn't have to, but you're just_ determined_ to have me gut you like the cowardly pig you are." Ender hissed in a voice low enough that Lynelle wouldn't overhear. "Now, behave. I don't like having to hurt my friend's feelings." He grabbed Jordan by the back of the neck and forced him onto his knees in front of him to tie his wrists together with a length of thin rope. Jordan looked at Lynelle pleading, as if she might free him.

"Lynn, Please. You've got to help me out here."

Lynelle looked straight at him, before glancing at Ender, who slowly shook his head a few times.

"Lynelle, If you don't let me go, your father will get hurt."

Ender saw Lynelle stiffen, and instantly knew what was about to happen. Lynelle's downcast, almost sympathetic look turned to a scowl that could rival Ender's blood-freezing glare at the blacksmith earlier. If there was one thing that you never do to Lynelle, it's threaten her family. Her whole body tense, she stepped over to the kneeling boy and her hair overshadowed her eyes. In a violent, aggressive motion, the sweep-kicked the kneeling boy hard enough to lift him off the ground and throw him sideways.

"You will leave my father out of this you son of a bitch!" she yelled at him, before Ender and Marie simultaneously put their hands on her shoulders, before Ender stepped forward to retrieve their new prisoner and Marie lead Lynelle away to calm down. As he hauled the barely conscious Jordan to his feet, he realised something about the future.

'_Looks like I'm going to have to speed up my plan…_

_For an all-out Revolution'_


	6. Chapter 5: Prelude to War

Chapter 5

It had been two days since the incident with Jordan. He was being held prisoner at one of Ender's rest-spots, an old stone jail-post forgotten deep in the forest as Ender kept tabs on him. Lynelle was dealing with her friends, stopping them from getting suspicious, and Marie was trying to gather whatever info she could from the church and the guard barracks, given her newly-discovered skills in stealth and information gathering. At the same time, Ender, Lynelle and Marie alternated between their new tasks and routine training sessions, with Ender acting as their mentor. They had also prevented three more attacks in the same night, when the church decided to retaliate by making three simultaneous attacks, thinking he couldn't save them all, to which he proved them wrong by having Marie and Lynelle take a group each on their own.

It was during one of these training sessions that Ender decided to visit Lynelle's town again, with an important task in mind. Lynelle and Marie were having a practice match, as Lynelle tested her axe-wielding skill against Marie, who was trying to improve her short-blades. The duel was going strong and it didn't look like they were going to let up anytime soon, so Ender interrupted them with a sharp whistle. They both stopped and looked at Ender, still in fighting positions, when he beckoned them over and they relaxed. When they got closer, they could see that he had something important to say.

"Hey, what's up? Why'd you call us?" Lynelle asked politely, and Marie gave a slight nod to silently repeat the question.

"You girls fully understood when you agreed to fight with me what my final goal was." They nodded, but didn't speak. "The reality of the fact is that we cannot do that alone. In order to knock the Church from power, we'll need an army. A Revolution. And I intend to start that revolution in this small town. But first, we'll need to build enough of a fighting force to force the Church out. I can contact some old comrades from Raven's Watch, but it would be prudent to gain the favour of the townspeople, as they could supply us with supplies, weapons and people to use them. It shouldn't be too difficult to convince them, considering the whispers about the Church floating around, but we can't get careless."

Lynelle nodded and Marie hummed her confirmation. Ender nodded back and continued.

"I'll get the message out to Mistral, what I need you to do is tell people about what the church is really like. Marie, if you're comfortable with the idea, tell them about what happened to you. Whether or not you include my role in that _detestable_ event is up to you, but a little good press could go a long way. At the same time, try to find out if any of the townsfolk are willing to fight. If they can't or won't fight, don't pressure them; just let them know to lay low until the fighting stops."

Again, both girls nodded.

"Alright, let's go build us an army."

* * *

That night, Ender was taking a casual stroll along the rooftops of the village in his full assassin gear when he noticed an older man in generic blue jeans and a light blue polo walking the streets, as if looking for something. _'What's Steve doing here?' _Ender asked in his head. It couldn't be for either of the girls, as Lynelle was sleeping at home and Marie (who Steve now treated like an adoptive daughter almost) had commandeered a room in one of Ender's nicer rest-spots; a small, single story house hidden not far from Lynelle's place. Ender dropped down into an Alley ahead of him and casually leaned against the cobblestone corner of the house. Steve strolled alongside him and leaned of the other side of the corner, so that Ender was still half-covered by shadow and Steve stood in the moonlight.

"Looking for me?" Ender asked stoically.

"Yes, in fact. I know what you're planning against the Church."

"And? Many people have the same against other Tyrants."

"The Church was taken too many good people, and ruined too many lives in their so-called 'Blessed Journey'. I've come to tell you have my support, on one condition…"

Ender tilted his head a little bit more towards Steve. "And that is?"

"I can trust you to keep Lynelle safe, Assassin. Or should I say, 'Samuel'?" Ender couldn't see his face, but his voice was devoid of any humour or teasing. He was much like Lynelle in that respect; you don't ever threaten his family.

Ender turned around to face the man fully, but kept his hood and scarf up. Steve turned around fully as well, and Ender studied his face. His eyes were cold, his jaw was set and his gaze was harsh, but he wasn't showing any signs of hatred or anger, so this wasn't a trap. "How did you figure it out?"

"My Instincts told me that you weren't what you made out to be, so I followed them and pieced it together."

"In two days? I'm impressed."

"Thank you. But I'm serious: If Lynelle gets hurt; I'm holding you personally responsible."

"You needn't worry, if she got hurt it would be my own conscience that suffers. I wouldn't let someone close to me get hurt."

"Good. Make sure you don't. That applies to Marie as well, even if you have already saved her life before."

"Of course. Should I tell Lynelle about your support?"

Steve shook his head. "No, I'll tell her myself, when it's closer to the time to act. What should I call you, by the way? I doubt that 'Samuel' is your real name."

Ender smiled at the memory of Lynelle grasping for a name when Ender, who was un-named at that point, put her on the spot like that. "Although I forgot my real name a long time ago, Samuel Mortimer is, like you said, just an alias. I go by the name Ender now."

"Ender, huh? That's rather… blunt."

"The name's courtesy of your daughter, I didn't choose it myself."

Steve looked slightly shocked, but chuckled slightly. "So she _named_ you? What are you, a stray puppy?"

"A stray puppy that's saved her life twice, apparently." Ender chuckled back, before he turned serious again and held out his hand. "Thank you for the support. We'll be counting on you."

"The Church has had its way unchecked for too long. Let's kick them of their pedestal." Steve replied in an equally serious manner. "So what's the name of this supposed revolution?"

Ender tapped his nose twice, the universal sign for 'that's for me to know, and you to find out', before he teleported onto the wall of the nearby blacksmith and pulled himself onto the roof, out of sight. When he was on the roof, Ender let out a sigh. "Well, that just happened…" he muttered to himself, before he spotted a familiar scene.

An unarmed girl was being pressed to wall by a group of guards, just like with Marie, except the group was larger, about 7 people and this girl didn't have a gutsy, brash girl to buy her some time, so she was slammed against the wall and slumped over, apparently out cold. He let out a 'Tch' in annoyance before he readied his bow and drew three arrows. He drew all three back at the same time and released. The arrows whistled in synchronicity before imbedding into the vital parts of three of the guards, ending their lives and dropping the numbers from 7 to 4. The remaining guards panicked from the sudden attack and Ender used this opportunity to sprint off of edge of the roof and leap towards the guards. The guards all pointed their swords at him as he fell towards him, intending to use his fall against him and impale him, but he suddenly teleported and disappeared midair, leaving a small shower purple sparks in his place. Confused Panic gripped them again as they looked for the assassin, only to be met with disappointment and fear when he tapped the leader on the shoulder and covered his mouth. He plunged his silver dagger into his stomach and ripped it out sideways before he kicked the dying man back at his comrades, all without attracting their attention. Having not seen the assassin just gutted their captain; all three turned in fright to see the torn shirt, horrendous wound and the blood pooling at his feet as he staggered forward. "He's….Here….." he struggled out, falling forwards into the dirt to reveal Ender, swords drawn and face shadowed by the hood. Their panic increased ten-fold as he looked up, his amethyst eyes seemingly glowing in the darkness under his hood. One of the guards burst forward with the intention of catching him off-balance. The move failed as he raised his sword, Ender met it with Ender-Termina in his right hand, before following up with a lazy stab with Reckoning in his left. The resulting cut across his right cheek wasn't deep, but would have beengoing to scar, if he even survived the fight. He wouldn't, Ender would make sure of that. Trying to back up their comrade, the other two guards ran forward, one swinging their sword sideways while the other guard tried bringing it down from behind his head. Ender parried the downwards strike and smacked him in the back of the neck with the pommel of his sword and countered the sideswipe by deflecting the blade into the ground and punching him the stomach with this fist still holding his other sword. He stood up straight as the guards were groaning in pain on the ground and he cast them a withering glare that forced the blood from their faces.

"Get up." He commanded. Slowly, two guards lumbered to their feet and tried to ready their weapons. Ender glanced at the other guard, who was still nursing his face from the nasty cut Ender gave him, and he flinched under the hybrid's violet gaze.

"Who are you loyal to, tin man?" The assassin asked/accused the guard in a dark, soul-grating voice, using a derogatory taunt popular with the townsfolk. "The People or the Church?"

"The Church work to serve the people, and we work of them. I don't understand the question."

Ender frowned and snarled slightly at the guard's impudence, which was unusual to see, considering most people breakdown at that tone of voice. That kind of confidence doesn't come from nowhere, so he was probably hiding something. To answer Ender's unasked question, the guard flicked his wrist and sent a throwing knife spinning at his head. Ender caught the blade between his middle and index finger without breaking a sweat, casually rolling around his knuckle and into his palm. He scowled at him before bringing the blade up to his face and glancing at the guard a second time. He sighed.

"So that's your answer, huh?"

His answer came in a second knife being thrown, which he also plucked casually out of the air and added to his hand. In a desperate attempt, a third knife was thrown, only to be caught and thrown back with the force of a small explosion, with a sonic boom to add. The blade stopped at the hilt, buried in the guard's shoulder as he screamed in pain. Ender, aware of the attention this was going to draw, silenced him by throwing the two other knives in quick succession, the first impaling his heart and the second piercing his brain. He dropped like a dead weight, given the truth of the statement. Two charging cries assaulted Ender from behind, who turned in time to quickly sever one guard's head from his shoulders and run the other through, burying his other sword in his torso, just below the ribcage, severing at least two major arteries in the process. He cleaned his weapons with their ragged uniforms before turning his attention to the unconscious girl slumped against the wall.

He sighed again and picked her up in a princess carry before teleporting over onto a roof, out of danger. He set her down and took one of his leather gloves off, resting a hand on her forehead. He used his powers to check for injury, but saw she was just unconscious; no skull fractures. She started coming to, and Ender pulled his glove back on. Her eyelids opened up a small amount, while her eyes swam like she was in a daze and had trouble focussing.

"Wha…What happened? What's going on?" she managed, her voice barely going about a whisper.

"It's alright, you're safe now. Where do you live? I need to get you home before anyone gets worried." He asked, helping her sit up.

"On the corner of Lycan Street, at number 4." She said with a hazy, unfocussed voice as ehe tried to stand up, but her legs betrayed her and she fell forward. Ender caught her and quietly picked her up in another princess carry, to which she squeaked in surprise, before he softly dropped off the roof with her in his arms. On the walk back, the girl's eyes seemed to focus more and she squinted at the man carrying her, it was obvious she was tired.

"Wait, are you… the Black Assassin?" she asked almost sleepily. Ender tensed up but hesitantly nodded his head.

"I've heard stories about you saved those people, and how the church is really the enemy and you're going to take them down." She cuddled a little closer into his chest in a sleepy, half-awake state. Ender just stayed quiet as he walked, observing the way the girl reacted around him.

"I feel safe around you for some reason…" she yawned.

'Even after seeing me kill 7 men in cold blood?' he mentally replied, and with that, she finally let sleep take her as Ender began to think about the general consensus of the townspeople with regards to what was going on.

Where no-one was openly claiming to oppose the Church, there were whispers and rumours about what was happening behind closed chapel doors, and Ender's recent rescues had gone down well with the town's unofficial leadership; the merchant's union. If he played his cards right, they could provide him with the supplies he would need in the future. _'They could be very useful allies; I need to get them behind me as quickly as possible.' _He thought to himself, as he turned a corner onto Lycan Street. A guard patrol rounded a different corner and Ender pressed himself and his temporary charge into the shadows on an alley as they passed. When they were gone, Ender realised the position he was holding the girl in. He noticed the slight blush on the sleeping girl's face and silently wondered why he had this effect on her and all the others. Even Lynelle and Marie weren't totally immune either, as Lynelle would blush whenever he would treat her like a lady, like pulling out chairs or holding doors for her, and even Marie smiled more when he was around her. Hearing a sleepy mewling, he was dragged out of his musing and directed his attention to the girl currently in his temporary care. _'Lynelle would kill me if she saw this, but Marie would probably understand' _He walked to the end of the street and gently rapped on the door with his knuckles. A middle-aged woman peered out with a slight frown.

"What do you want?" she asked before her eyes widened at the sight of him: a hooded, masked figure dressed in all black with a variety of weapons and softly glowing amethyst eyes, carrying her sleeping daughter in a princess carry.

"Alice! What did you do to her, Assassin?" the girl's mother demanded as he gently placed her on the ground and looked at the older woman with a level, unfazed expression.

"She was attacked by a rogue guard patrol, but I intervened. She's mostly unharmed, but I would still recommend a few days rest after that nasty hit to her head."

"Wait, guards did this? So it is true…"

Ender raised an eyebrow. "If you're referring to the rumours about the Church, then most of them _are_ true, but only the street attacks and the spies are taking place in this town."

The girl's mother frowned and looked at him sceptically. "And how would you know?"

Ender replied by pulling down the left side of his scarf, revealing his End-skin but protecting his identity. "I've lived through half of it myself, and watched the other half happen around me. That's why I fight, as you've heard. I'll warn you in advance; a storm is coming. Are you willing to stand with us, seeing as they nearly defiled your daughter?"

The woman shook her head slowly. "While I still hate them for what they were going to do my darling Alice, I can't fight them with my poor physical condition and I won't see my daughter put in harm's way by letting her fight either."

"I understand." Ender nodded. "Then I'll ask you to be ready just in case. We won't make you fight, but be prepared to hole up and weather the storm. Your only job is to keep those close to you who don't wish to fight safe during the battle." The woman nodded solemnly and Ender nodded back before he turned on his heel and left. Just as he reached the door, he turned and gave her an intimidating look.

"I suggest that you keep my involvement in this away from the wrong people, because I _will _make you regret it if you do." And with that he continued on for a few more paces before warping away, leaving his signature purple sparks behind.

* * *

Three days later, Ender and Lynelle were sorting through the stacks of information the three aspiring revolutionaries had collected since Jordan's capture as Marie practiced her archery skills outside her and Ender's shared house. The auburnette sighed as her head slipped from its perch on her hand and landed softly in the pile of papers on front of her, drawing a slight chuckle from the half-Enderman sitting to her right.

"Tired, are we?" He poked her with his quill pen, leaving a black ink smudge on her cheek. She groaned like a teenager reluctant to get out of bed and lazily batted his hand away, without even raising her head.

"You've trained me to improve my physical condition, but the one thing I can't handle… is boring as hell paperwork." She licked her thumb and rubbed the ink off of her face as he sat up and slumped back in her chair. "Can't Marie help out as well?"

"She's training to improve her skill with a bow. She's adamant that she perfect her accuracy at longer ranges, as well as learning to shoot on the move, which are her weakest areas. Would you rather practice your axe-throwing and disarming techniques? You've said yourself that they need touching up on." He explained with a genuine tone, instead of with sarcasm. Lynelle stretched her arms out behind her head until they popped and then leaned on the table.

"Well, it would beat going paperwork." She smiled, and Ender smiled back.

"Go on then, I'll finish up here." He said warmly as she re-stacked her papers and stood up from the table. When she was gone, Ender could hear her give a quick greeting to Marie, a grunt of effort and then a thud from her axe hitting the wooden target a short distance away. He turned his attention back to the paper in front of him and frowned. It was a list of prospective members, along with their current profession, and according to the list, there was more than a few town guards among them. He rubbed his chin in thought, thinking back to when they had first appeared on his list and he'd gone to speak with them. It seemed that the Church had tried to get them to take part in the street attacks, but they had refused. In order to keep them quiet, the Church had its Loyalists threaten their families if they tried to get word out to the public. In return for their families' rescues, they would help Ender in his fight when the time came. Ender wanted to trust them, he could see the pain and repressed anger in their eyes whenever they spat the Church's name like bad ale, but he needed to be cautious.

His train of thought was interrupted by the sound of two voices arguing; one female, most likely Lynelle's, and the other male that caused a flicker of recognition to Ender's mind. There was a knock on the door and Marie walked though, gesturing for him to follow her. He raised an eyebrow before he got up and followed her. Outside, Lynelle was arguing with a large man in a full set of black metal armour sans helmet with cool grey eyes and a short Mohican, as 8 other black armoured men standing in 2 groups of two and a third group of four carrying a rectangular wooden crate. _'Well, 6 men, one creepy ex-stalker and one very angry woman I've never met before.'_ Ender chuckled in his head. He turned his attention back to the leader, at least who he assumed was the leader by the red trim on his left pauldron, and started to walk over to him. Lynelle and the man both sensed him approaching and turned to face him. As he drew closer, Ender smirked slightly at the sight of guards tensing up slightly at his undisguised appearance, but none of them went for their weapons. When he was right in front of the man, he held his right hand up in front of him, like he was going to arm wrestle, except with a closed fist. The large man smirked back and did the same, tapping his knuckles on the back of Ender's. They then, in-tandem, swung their arms down to meet each other's forearms and finally moved them back up to grab each other's hand in a arm-wrestle like handshake and bump chests. Ender's smirk grew slightly larger while the armoured man's grew into a grin.

"It's been a while 'Sam'. Two years now?" The large man said, with a short laugh, exaggerating the name of his alias.

"Too long Bennett. Jeez, still rockin' the crappy Mohican are you?"

The armoured man laughed and punched his shoulder in mock offense. "Hey, watch it Short-Stack! Do I need to let your girlfriends' here know about _that_?"

"I have no clue what you're talking about." Ender replied in mock confidence, crossing his arms across his chest and pointing his chin up a little higher.

"Oh really? I seem to remember this one time in Bel…" he started before Ender panicked and scrambled to cut him off.

"We are **not** going to talk about that** ever** again, got it?" he hissed, and a few guards snickered behind him. Leaning around the larger man, Ender called back to them. "Oh Shut it you three, you're just as guilty! Especially you, Nick!" One voice quietened down and the other two stopped momentarily before bursting out into laughter twice as hard. Ender smiled again and turned his attention back to the leader.

"So, how's the search for you name coming along? Did you find it?" Bennett asked.

"Yes and No. I couldn't find my old identity or any part of my past, only what was left of my old home after the fire. I buried my Mother's body about a year and a half ago, in a clearing not too far from here. As for my new identity, I go by Ender to those know me, and Samuel Mortimer to those who don't. Anyway, onto the more pressing matters. I take it you're here to fight with me?"

"That, and I brought you a gift." Bennett relied, waving with his hand to bring the crate over. The four guards shuffled over and dropped the crate at Ender and Bennett's feet. They clicked the latches down and stepped away. Bennett grinned without a word, and kicked the wooden lid off of the crate. Inside, the box was filled with military-grade swords, bows and other weapons. Ender's smirk grew again as he switched his gaze from the man in front of him to the weapons in the crate and back again.

"You magnificent son-of-a-bitch!" he chuckled, crouching down and picking up a steel sword, looking at it with an appraising look.

"And don't you forget it, boy!"

Finally, It proved too much for one agitated and slightly curious soldier, the angry-looking woman at that, as she briskly walked up to Bennett and gave Ender a sharp, pointed look. "Excuse me Sir, but who is this man for him to be speak to you in such a disrespectful way?" she asked her superior.

Bennett chuckled and gestured towards Ender, who stood with his arms crossed since before the female soldier even started speaking. "That man… is formerly Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Mortimer, Now the feared Black Assassin of the Lejare Wastes… and my closest comrade since I joined Raven's Watch."

Ender blinked at the use of both his old rank and his new moniker, but smiled at the last part, about being his closest comrade. He looked at the female guard, who was still in shock, and smirked. She snapped out of her stupor and bolted to Attention, her arm snapping to her head in a salute.

"Second Lieutenant Amelia Thorpe, Sir! I apologise for my earlier indiscretion."

He returned the salute out of instinct. "At Ease, Lieutenant. Apology noted, and you won't be disciplined for making a little mistake, so calm down." She visibly relaxed and the turned his attention to the other soldiers.

"Sound off!" he called, and the other 7 snapped to attention in salute.

"Yorik Stanlie, sir! Swordsman."

"Bryson Ford, sir! Also a swordsman"

"Nicholas Snide reporting, Sammy Boy! My battle axe is as sharp as ever!" Ender signed mentally at that one. _'Same old Nick… seriously, that guy….'_

"Tina Sprout is here for you, My Love. My bow will always be ready for you, and so will my heart!" At that, Ender physically cringed. _'Damn it, that would be the stalker… dammit all.'_

"Richard Grimes, good to see you again Sir. I take the role of an archer."

"Jesse Heisenburg, Sir. Swordsman and potionmaker."

"Oliver Queen, returning to your command. Archer."

Ender returned their salutes and spoke. "Well, now that we're all introduced, I'd like to introduce my two partners and closest allies as of late. Lynelle and Marie."

The two said girls stepped forward and responded with a wave from Lynelle and a curt nod from Marie.

"Lynelle Haynes. I specialise in Swords and Axes."

"Marie Kurono. Bows and Short-blades."

* * *

After all the greetings and such had died down, the four main conspirators found themselves around the moderately large oak table in Ender's front room. They had spent the last few hours planning out the upcoming attack, and it was finally decided. They had sent out the Ravens, a popular nickname for those in Raven's Watch, to deliver the plan to those in the village. The leaders were now just wrapping up all the loose ends involved in planning a war, when the tell-tale sign of clinking armour just began to reach their ears. Bennett looked up from the table and glanced at Ender, who gestured towards the door with his head and eyes.

"I'll go greet the men." And he was gone. Marie also decided to dismiss herself as she stood from the table, stretching het back and arms in a way reminiscent of a cat.

"I'm going to get some rest for the operation tomorrow. I'll see you then."

And with that, the two were alone. Lynelle was very quiet and Ender glanced over in her direction. She sat without saying a word, but slight fidgeting let on that something was amiss.

"Nervous?" He asked, sitting down in the chair across from her. He received a small nod in response.

"It just doesn't seem… real. I'm scared that I'm going to take one step out there tomorrow and this is just going to turn into some twisted nightmare… I just…" She couldn't talk anymore, so she just buried her head in her hands, gently sobbing. It hurt Ender to see her like this, but he wasn't good with people. He spent most of his life fighting or avoiding them. He felt helpless, and it pissed him off, screwing his hands into fists. He took a deep breath and relaxed his hands, resting on her shoulder. She looked up at him, and saw the expression on his face. So many emotions swam behind his eyes; anger at himself, care for her, calculation on his next move, but his face was set in the strongest emotion: raw determination.

"It's going to be okay. I'll be there to support you, and so will Marie. You're not going to be alone in this, and I'm not going to let anything happen to either of you two. We're comrades, friends, and I care about you both."

He removed his hand from her shoulder and offered it to her with a sincere smile. She took it and he pulled her to her feet, guiding her to the door. When they were outside, Ender let the ender pearls spill into his irises and with a smirk took off running, dragging Lynelle behind him. A few seconds later, he teleported them into the huge oak tree nearby, overlooking the rest of the forest. After scanning the trees for the clearing that marked Lynelle's home, he smirked as an Idea came to mind.

"Hey, want to do something crazy?"

Lynelle raised an eyebrow at him. "Crazier than declaring war on a whole religion?"

"Trust me." He simply asked, holding out his hand again. She nervously took it.

"..O…Okay…"

With these words, He ran straight down the length of the platform hidden among the tree's branches, leaping off with an acrobatic backwards dive with Lynelle in tow. Time seemed to slow as they free-fell, when Ender suddenly twisted in the air and let his teleportation flare again. They appeared in the air a few meters above the path leading to Lynelle's house, travelling at the same speed at which they had fallen at a slanted angle. Ender flipped in the air, grabbing Lynelle, before landing heavily and sliding to a stop in a small cloud of dust. When the dust settled, Lynelle took note of the position she was in: being held in the arms of the handsome, enigmatic man who had already saved her life twice, in nothing less than a princess carry. Her face exploded into a blush and she let out a surprised squeak. Ender, realising that he was still holding her, gently let her down as she looked down, to hide her red face. He waved a hand over his face, raising his 'human' disguise, before offering his hand a third time, this time walking her gentlemanly to her door. He knocked and Steve opened the door, grinning slightly when he saw Lynelle's embarrassed face.

"Goodnight, Sam." She called out as she rushed inside, using his alias.

"Goodnight Lynelle." He replied before he turned his gaze to Steve and his face turned serious. He nodded curtly and older man nodded back. They shook hands, Ender subtly slipping a folded piece of parchment containing tomorrow's orders into the other man's palm. He gave it a quick glance before nodding again, and Ender turned to leave. As he teleported back to his own house, he reviewed the plans in his head, starting with the most important detail:

'_Tomorrow, We attack at Dawn.'_

* * *

**A/N: And that's this chapter! It was originally going to be the attack itself, but the whole planning and prep stage kinda overran. Chapter 6 will be about the attack instead of Chapter 5, and it looks like this story just got a little longer.**

**Also, I was using some references when naming the Ravens. A free internet cookie to any one that can guess what I was referencing! There are 4 to get!**

**Until next time**

**~Reaper**


	7. Chapter 6: Freedom's Wings

**A/N:**** I'm sorry that this chapter took so long, my laptop had to go in for repairs, then I had A-level revision and exams to take care of, THEN I had the accursed 'writer's block'. To make up for it, have an extra-length chapter!**

**I'd probably didn't explain this very well but Ender's powers don't just involve teleporting. Because he's half-Enderman, he can manipulate the space around him, hence how he can teleport, 'scan' for broken bones and open a pocket dimension. He isn't too OP, because he can't lift mountains or control tornados etc. because he can only work on a small scale, 9m in all directions or 27m when focussing in a single direction.**

* * *

Chapter 6

The morning was still dark; still an hour until dawn, as Ender, cloaked in black, knelt alone at the stone cross amidst the field of amethyst flowers, lit by 6 torches lining the edge of the small knoll they both rested upon. He was silent for a long time, unmoving, as he collected his thoughts. Finally he opened his closed eyes and raised his head, his gaze landing on the grave marker ahead of him.

"Today is the day everything begins. The attack will be starting soon, so I can't stay for too long. I'll need all the help I can get, so I'll be borrowing this again, okay mum?" He spoke morosely, reaching towards the base of the cross and picking up a pair of silver rings set with a citrine gemstone, the orange gem seemingly emitting a small glow of its own. He looked sullenly at the heirloom before he slipped one onto his middle finger on each hand. The metal felt warm around his finger and light swam through the gem, prompting Ender to smile an almost undetectable amount, as if his mother's spirit were keeping him company. A fragile but loving peace settled over him as he closed his eyes and focussed on his other senses. The smell of the flowers around him, the quiet rustling of the trees, the cool air moving across his skin, the bitter taste of the saliva in his mouth. His thoughts brought him no solace, as they were occupied with strategies, tactics and counter-tactics, plans and back-up plans, or the darker, more twisted part of his mind; the one that relished in the slaughter, lusted for it. He repressed them with an agitated shudder and returned to the semblance of peace, if not for a moment. His eyes snapped open and again his gave settled on the stone cross that marked his mother's resting place.

"I'll return when I can, but I can't promise that of your gift. Goodbye for now, Mother."

He stood up from his position and rested a hand on the stone cross for a moment before he turned away and walked back to the entrance of the clearing. He wordlessly put his weapons back on as he tried to calm his mind from the events to come, with a degree of success higher that he expected of himself. With a small degree of clarity, he continued towards his home, walking at a brisk yet relaxed pace. He decided against teleporting, instead deciding to enjoy the uneasy peace that the forest brought him for as long as possible before he stepped out onto the hell of battle.

Before long, his destination was in sight, as were a few people he expected to see. Standing in the dim light of his porch light Lynelle, Marie and Bennett were doing final preps on their weapons and equipment, the girls adjusting their new outfits in some places. Ender had gotten them made shortly after the whole Jordan incident, when he noticed how unsuitable their usual clothes were for sneaking around in the shadows, what with Lynelle's red shirt and Marie's mostly white outfit standing out from the darkness. Their new gear was entirely black, but the styles were different, designed to suit the wearer's preference; Lynelle's outfit was a black buttoned shirt with a leather jacket tight enough to not get in the way yet without restricting movement and a black skirt and leggings with black boots; not too dissimilar from her usual outfit. Marie's new gear consisted of a black long-sleeved top with cut-off shoulders, black riding trousers replacing her white shorts and black ankle boots in the same style as her blue ones. They were both also wearing a black over-cloak with a hood, both of which were down as they adjusted themselves, as well as a unique pendant embedded with a special glass crystal that allowed the girls to activate their disguises for a short time without needing to rely on Ender's power. They were also wearing their own signature weapons; Lynelle with her axe and her recently acquired French sabre, and Marie with her polished sliver Japanese tanto and a dark cherry wood bow from Bennett's 'gift'. Speaking of Bennett, he was standing nearby them in full silver armour that glinted a little in the moonlight. Standing next to the two girls, Ender could really appreciate the man's full size. He was a tall, heavy-set man a head taller than the 5'10" Lynelle, and a bit taller than Ender himself, who was about 6'01". Just looking at him, he was _not_ the kind of guy you want to piss off in a bar fight, lest he break you like a toothpick, and the gigantic _Zweihänder_ strapped across his backdefinitely didn't help. Nevertheless, the hybrid assassin was undaunted by his ally as he crossed the ground between them and the trio turned to look at him. The Girls gave him a quick smile and Bennett gave a curt nod as he approached and gave his own weapons a final once-over before he addressed the trio.

"It's nearly time. Are you all ready? Because once you start on this path, you can't leave it until it's over."

He didn't have to wait for a reply as Lynelle gave a tiny nod with a determination that impressed him a little and Marie a small one-sided smile. He continued.

"Very well then. Bennett, have the Ravens deploy to their staging points and make sure they know their roles. I can't stress enough how serious this is. Girls, this is your first real battle, so you'll be with me just like we planned, but it is imperative that you look out for each other when I'm unable to help you. We stick to the plan and we'll get through this. Oorah?"

"Oorah!" Bennett barked back, but Ender's 'apprentices' simply replied with a quizzical look. Well, a quizzical look from Marie and a down-right confused one from Lynelle, but still. Met with these looks Ender realised his error and chuckled to himself, Bennett also picking up on it and have a small one himself.

"Sorry, it's an army thing. It means 'Ready?'. So, are you girls ready?"

A nod and a confirming hum from Marie and Lynelle respectively.

"Alright then. Feet first into Hell…" Ender trailed off as he turned his back on the two as he gave his weapon belt a final adjustment. He closed his eyes and released a breath, bringing forward the dormant hate and wrath that lie sleeping in his sub-conscious. He half muttered and half growled his next two words, a little bit of his Enderman side slipping in as well, before he broke out in a full sprint, the girls close behind. At the same time, the High Priest of the town was enjoying a late night glass of expensive brandy when he felt an ungodly chill run down his spine, a bad omen he un-sagely ignored and went back to his opulent liquid sin.

"_**Let's Go."**_

* * *

Will Simmons was your average church-employed guardsman: Greedy, sloppy, lazy and corrupt. It was great for him to be with people with the same totally screwed moral compass. That's why he was in the guards in the first place; Birds of a feather flock together. Most of them joined up with the dream of sitting back, relaxing inside the safety of the 20 feet stone walls instead of heading out to fight off the various nasty monsters that creep around at night like Forward Deployment Corps, or 'Scouts'.

At the current time, he was leaning back against the stone wall, lazily overlooking the pleasant glow of the town below him when another guard he couldn't be bothered to remember the name of came up to him.

"Hey."

"Hey Man. What's up?"

The other guard just shrugged his shoulders. "Just doin' my rounds. It's not like we're gonna get any action around here."

"That's good. It means I don't need to do anything and I can just chill here. Bored at hell though."

The guard chuckled at that. "If you're really that bored, why not just ditch your post and come score with some chicks?"

"Nah, I've already got a nice piece of ass keeping my bed warm right now." Will waved him off with an arrogant smirk.

"Shame, you're missing out' man. I'll be at the inn if you change your mind and want a quick bang with some broad." The other guard patted him on the shoulder and made his way down the stone steps as Will went back to leaning on the wall. A warping noise caught his attention and he turned to look out into the darkened expanse of grassland and just caught the tall, ebony figure of an Enderman stalking in the darkness, pale purple eyes turned towards him, as if it were staring right at him. He shivered and tried to look away but he couldn't. His eyes were trapped in the glassy lilac ones for what seemed as small eternity until the monster looked away and warped away.

"Tch, stupid monster…" He muttered to himself as he turned around, only to face the last thing he would ever see; a purple-eyed wraith stood about a metre away. He crossed the distance instantly with a deathly silence, firmly placing a gloved hand over Will's mouth. Without a word or threat, the wraith grabbed the guard by the front of his shirt and sank the length of a silver dagger into his jugular vein. As the blood flowed from the wound in torrents, the guard made to scream but it just died in his throat and he fell to the stone with a dulled clash of metal on stone. The noise went unnoticed by the sleepy town, except by a single roaming guard; the same one he was chatting with earlier.

"Hey Will, you drunk or somethin'? What was…" he started as he neared the top of the steps. His words died in his throat as he processed the sight in front of him. Before he could even shout, he met his end at the tip on an arrow being buried in his eye and piercing his brain, killing him instantly.

Ender rushed forward and grabbed the guard's body before it could fall from the stairs and dragged it next to the other one as two more cloaked figures approached from further along the wall in either direction.

"The north wall is clear, and so is the west." Marie reported, brushing her disguised black hair out of her face and settling her previously ice blue, now slate grey eyes on Ender. "The Ravens are also in position on that side."

"South's clear as well. The Village group are also ready to go on that end." Lynelle piped up as she tucked some of the loose white hair back into her hood. Ender's amethyst eyes met the new pale lilac of Lynelle's disguised ones for a moment before he nodded and broke eye contact.

"Good. We're moving on to the next phase. Disguises?"

The girls lifted their pendants to eye-level and gave them an evaluative look; the pale glows indicating their remaining power were still filling about 80% of the crystals.

"I'm still good for a couple more hours." Marie said, and Lynelle hummed her agreement.

"Same here."

"We're moving on to the next phase then. Get in position and be ready on my signal." Ender said, handing the pair a single firework each and keeping one for himself. They gave a curt nod each and bolted back down the wall's perimeter. Ender let out a calming breath to collect himself before he broke for the nearest gatehouse. From his position above the 15-foot wooden gate, he spotted 5 guards; one guard inside the post, a pair by the door, one with a cigar and another having a conversation with him, and another two on patrol nearby. He mentally calculated the reaction times, speed and positions of his targets.

His best bet would be to eliminate the two patrolling guards and luring the one smoking away from his position in order to take him out without getting spotted, then use the other guard by the door as a distraction to goad the one in the house out of there. Silently confirming the plan, he silently jumped onto a slightly lower 3rd story roof and crouch-ran onto the next. Jumping down again, he had to quickly press himself against the wall as the patrolling pair came around the corner. When they passed, Ender took a few steps back and sprinted across the roof, leaping across the gap with the grace of a cat and rolling when he hit the other roof. Quickly and quietly he crossed the roof and watched the guards turn the corner onto the road underneath him, looping back on themselves along the road parallel to the one they had just gone down. Without a word, they passed under him and he silently dropped off of the roof. From behind, he slipped his dagger in between one's ribs, piercing his heart easily though the light cloth of his uniform as the other guard walked ahead. When he noticed his partner's absence, he turned to be met with a black cloaked figure that rushed towards him and stabbed him in the heart with a gleaming silver knife.

'That's two down. Next are the two outside door.' Ender mentally reported as he ran up the wall of a nearby house and grabbed a windowsill, pulling himself up to grab the top of the window frame, and then up onto the roof.

'Now, how do I do this?' Ender mentally asked himself as the doubled back towards the gate. With his target in sight, he crouched low on the roof of the blacksmith's shop. Scanning his surroundings, he couldn't believe his luck as he spied a small stack of tin cups left on a garden wall, probably by some kids as target practice. Following their example, he picked up a smooth stone and threw it at the stack. The projectile was a little off, but still hit its mark and smashed into the cups.

Both guards jumped slightly and the one with the cigar stubbed it out on the wall he was leaning on as he pushed off and went towards the sound at the urging of his friend, mumbling profanities about 'snot-nosed little brats'. As he approached Ender slipped off of the roof and pressed himself into the shadows behind the corner of an adjacent house. Without a word he slipped his dagger from his boot and approached silently from behind. Just before he could get within arm's reach, his foot collided with one of the tin cups and he cursed silently. The smoking guard turned sharply in time to knock the dagger from his hand. Ender was stunned for a moment and the guard used the opportunity to charge at him fist drawn back to strike.

'Not good.' Ender mentally panicked as he ducked under the blow. 'I don't have enough time to draw any of my weapons, and I've lost my dagger. I can't even use _that_ because it'll draw too much attention' He blocked a second punch aimed at the side of his head with his left hand and snapped his right into the guard's nose. A sickening crunch and stream of blood signalled it was broken as he stumbled back, clutching it in obvious pain. That's when Ender took the offensive with a quick jab straight to his face, then a vicious left hook that threw his head to the right. He stumbled back again and attempted to defend himself, but Ender just danced past his defences the two quick strikes from the right, one from the left and a sharp snap-kick into his chest.

The shaken and clearly disorientated guard shook his head to clear it and launched a last ditch attempt to fight the assassin. By pure luck, his fist connected with Ender's clothed jaw and knocked his head to the side. The small smile of victory was quickly and brutally smashed when he turned his amethyst eyes back with a flicker of rage behind them. Without breaking eye contact, he re-set his jaw with a haunting click and slowly slipped into a fighting stance. Before the guard would even blink, Ender was on him with a devastating barrage of punches and kicks. After knocking him back with a particularly powerful kick, Ender took a half-step back before bolting forward and jumping. In a single mid-air movement, with the deadly grace of an apex predator, he drew his diamond axe and rolled his wrist before he brought it down with deal of force, cleaving through the flesh and sinew of the guard's neck.

He stood up straight and the guard crumpled in front of him and half-turned away with grim disinterest. A brief shine of light caught his attention as he turned, and he went over to it. As he drew closer, he saw it was his dagger, lying on its side on the ground. Cautiously he picked it up and closed a restrained fist around its handle as he remembered just what the weapon signified and cursed himself for letting it get knocked away. Dispelling those thoughts, he quickly checked his day/night pocket watch and saw that the sun was due up soon. He cursed himself again and made off towards his last two targets, but not before he graciously slid the fallen guard's eyes closed.

The other two guards were quick work, with the first falling by a throwing knife into his skull, and the second falling in a similar fashion to his heart. Ender's timeframe was running out and he needed to hurry before the sun was up as he slid the beam off of the gate and ran to the top of the wall. Standing atop the gate he used a small shard of a broken mirror to shine a flash of light to the girls, waiting atop the two smaller gates on either side of the town. Turning back around, he faced the darkened expanse of grassland beyond the town's walls and drew a long, slow breath, eyes closed, before he released it and re-opened his eyes. He raised his arm, ready to launch the signal firework, when his glowing amethyst eyes locked with the dull, dead-eyed lilacs of a feral Enderman and he stopped.

Endermen, unlike most humans believed, weren't violent or savage by nature. Much like humans, they could think, and behave civilly like any other normal human. Unfortunately, the ones that could act like this were also intelligent enough to hide away from other civilisations to avoid human eyes, forming villages and settlements in wilderness and unexplored mountain ranges, so the only contact Humanity had with the Enderman race were the ones driven insane by animalistic urges too strong to control, leading them to steal, kill and butcher like wild animals. Perturbed by the thought, Ender sighed sadly as he readied the flare again, firing off the stream of glowing yellow smoke. The projectile whistled into the air for a few seconds before exploding with a loud, echoing bang, closely followed by the white and red explosions of Lynelle and Marie's signal rockets respectively. The was quiet for a few moments more as those down below stood confused by the impromptu fireworks.

* * *

A guard on lookout from the central spire of the church snapped awake at the sound of the fireworks. Confused and a little shocked, he lazily settled his spyglass on the horizon. In the fading darkness he could make out a group of black shapes moving around, most notably towards the town. Confused, he focussed on the shapes as they approached, silently wishing for more light. As if to oblige him, the sun just broke the horizon and threw faint light across the grassland. The black shaped became black-armoured soldiers of some kind, and the guard called back to his friend as what to do.

"Just Ignore it, they won't get past the gate." Was what he received as a reply.

He frowned slightly and turned his attention towards the gate. Sure enough, it remained closed, so he relaxed. However, he quickly noticed a worrying detail and his went pale: The gate was closed, but it wasn't locked or bolted, and a hooded black figure was approaching. With both hands, the figure grabbed the gate and pulled hit open slowly. Once at its limit, the figure waved an arm to the approaching soldiers, who began to head towards the town with renewed vigour. The pale guard went white when he realised what was happening:

They were under attack.

* * *

Ender smiled a little as Bennett and his soldiers drew closer to the town. The plan was simple: three groups would enter the town and make their way to the Church in the centre of town, which serves as the town's central chaplaincy and mayoral position as well. Once they had control of the church it would cause the enemy's command structure to suffer, with most of their 'officials' (Read: Corrupt Religious Leaders) being held up there and under their custody. From there it would be easy to force a surrender and purge out the fanatical parts of the guard corps form those actually willing to fight to protect the innocent from the church's influence.

As the Ravens finally reached the gates, the first expected obstacle reared its head. As the group was running down the main street, the town's warning bell began tolling.

'This isn't a problem, but it means that I need to get to high ground.' Ender thought, as he recalled his specific part of the plan. When the bells started, Ender and the girls were to re-group and head to the church ahead of time, using the attacking force as a diversion to take out the high-ranking officials before the main force arrive and seize the church before they arrived to reinforce the position.

'I need to save my strength for the real fighting, so teleporting is out.' Ender though to himself as a platoon of guards converged at the end of the street and rushed towards the approaching Ravens. Ender made a few quick hand signals, and the group spread out, archers at the rear with swordsmen, mace wielders and the like taking the vanguard. Rather than lead the group himself, he make another quick hand signal before he bolted forward and wall-ran over the approaching guards, grabbing a sign mounted above them and hauling himself onto the roof as the Ravens below him engaged the town guards.

Scanning the rooftops as the morning grew ever lighter, he spotted two converging black shapes on a roof a little further from the church than he was and started to make his way over until a flash of light caught his attention from the street below. Glancing in its direction, another few flashes appeared until they gave way to a familiar-looking girl holding a mirror and a shard of glowstone. She waved him over and he suddenly recognised her; the girl he saved about 4 days ago.

"You're Alice, right?" He decided to clarify, to which she nodded. "I thought your mother wasn't going to let you fight."

Alice just shook her head. "I'm not fighting, I joined up as a runner." She explained, showing off the Raven's Watch symbol pinned to her collar; a temporary way to indicate Ender's Revolutionaries. "And my mum doesn't know I snuck out…"

"A Runner? I take it you have a message for me?"

"An Inside man in the church just reported a large amount of soldiers being held back to defend the church closely. He said you can't attack it alone with just three people."

"I'll have to rethink the plan…" He muttered more to himself than the runner, before he looked up and spoke to her directly. "Alright, relay this message to the group leaders and any other runners you find…"

He quickly explained the new plan, and she nodded and ran off to deliver the orders as Ender returned to the roof to flag down the girls. Evidently they were looking for him as well as Lynelle spotted him on the run over and grabbed Marie's attention. The two ran to meet him and he was quick to explain the new plan.

"Change of plan. The guards have garrisoned a large group around the church. I might be able to break through on my own, but not with you two, so we're going to re-group with one of the main groups until we converge on the market place and head toward the church as a singular unit."

"Got it." The girls responded in stereo. Ender nodded at them and the trio broke off along an adjacent rooftop, towards the nearest battle.

* * *

Nicholas Snide was not having a good day as he brought his single-sided battle-axe down on another guard trying run him through with a sword. He just _had_ to break from the group and try to be some big-shot heroic warrior that women love, now he was regretting that decision. He was surrounded, and he wasn't going to last all day. Ducking under a high axe swing, he cursed for the umpteenth time and returned the axe blow with his own, only to have it blocked with the shaft of the other weapon. With an exceptional bark of effort, the guard pushed the black-armoured Raven back, causing him to stumble and fall backwards. Like sharks smelling blood, three of the attacking guards, two with swords and the one with axe, started to creep forward and Nick prepared himself for his end.

Suddenly, a black figure sailed overhead and sank a darker-than-normal diamond long sword into the axe-wielder. At almost the same time, a shining silver axe found itself buried in one swordsman's collar bone, and a black-fletched arrow in the eye of the other. The first black figure leapt off of the fallen guard as two other black figures landed on either side of him, simultaneously removing the other's weapon from the dead guards and handing them back to their owner, the axe to the white-haired one and the arrow to the black-haired one. The remaining contingent of guards took a collective step back as they realised that their worst nightmare had just arrived; the recently named 'Three Reapers'.

Nick however went from shocked to ecstatic as he realised who just saved his life. "Come On Sammy Boy!" He cheered amidst the chaos, picking up his axe and running forwards to re-join the battle. Ender in response drew his other sword and ran forwards without a word, as Lynelle readied her axe again and Marie drew her Tanto, the pair following close behind as they ran forward into battle like the bringers of death their namesake made them out to be.

* * *

Determined to do her part for the freedom from the church, Alice Mornoe had rushed out and signed on as a runner as soon as the word had reached her days before, hence why she was currently running down the narrow alleyways of her home town. Her eyes fell on a familiar set of black armour and she set off with renewed vigour to deliver her new orders when she bumped into another figure running from an adjoining alley. Their eyes met for a second before she recognised the other girl as another runner for the Revolutionaries. Alice sighed in relief and ran a hand through her coal-black hair.

"Thank god, another runner. Listen, I've got orders from Ender…" she started before an excited gasp came from the other orange-haired runner.

"From the Leader-man himself?! This is so cool, I get to give out his direct orders!" she exclaimed with hearts in her eyes. Alice just sweat-dropped and cut her off.

"Okaaay then… Here's your orders…" she briefly explained the new orders to the orangette, receiving an excited nod and a quick verbal confirmation from her before they ran down separate alleyways.

It wasn't long after they had lost sight of each other that rough hands appeared around Alice's neck and, with a loud shriek; she was dragged out of sight.

* * *

Ender was the Reaper himself, the embodiment of Death as his blades tore down another squad of guards, their blood adding to the rivulets already running down their crystal lengths.

Marie was a vengeful shadow, a ghost amidst the combat as she slipped behind man after man and severing their spines or impaling their hearts with her silver tanto sword before seemingly evaporating and reappearing behind her next target.

Lynelle was a graceful Angel of death, a merciful killer as she danced with sabre and axe, delivering the end to those who opposed her with a quick and beautiful movement.

The Ravens around them couldn't help but stop and admire the display, a dance so skilful that even some of the guards stopped in spite of themselves, even as the battles continued around them. Assorted battle cries and the like brought them out of their collective reverie as the battles restarted in earnest as 'the Three Reapers' tore through their resistance with practiced ease. Ender swung both blades in tandem at the sword of a defending guard, opening him up for a shoulder charge that knocked the silver-plated soldier to the ground. He wasn't given a chance to recover as a black arrow buried itself in his eye-hole and into his brain from someone on Ender's left and Marie jogged over.

"How are you holding up?" Ender asked with mild concern. Marie gave him a quick glance.

"I'm fine, but It's not me I'm worried about…" she trailed off, eyes settling on Lynelle as she fell back behind the front line of soldiers. Ender followed her eyes and an unpleasant feeling of guilt washed over him as he recalled what he had told her before the battle. What he had told her tore apart any remaining sympathy for the Church, but had also left her with an acute hatred that Ender was worried could become worse; he told her _**Everything**_. He told her of everything he had seen and done in his short, traumatic life; from the razing of his village to the Sinji Massacre, where he gained his famous moniker of the Black Assassin. It was enough to tear any lesser person apart, and Ender admired Lynelle's strength and resolve to set things right, but couldn't help and feel guilty for it.

His introversion was shattered with the tolling of a bell. Specifically, the church bells for an important announcement. All eyes turned to the entourage atop the spire and combat froze with blades locked. Ender's eyes hardened and froze with icy rage and steel-forged hatred as he locked eyes directly with the first object of his revenge.

High-Priest Evnidni's self-assured smirk faltered and a hell-cooling chill ran down his entire being, but his overbearing stature managed not to shatter under the pressure of the hybrid's gaze. With a motion of his hand, a guard brought a copper megaphone and positioned it in front of him.

"I see the tainted shepherd had arrived with his blacken flock to corrupt the hearts of my faithful lambs!

My Lambs! Can't you see how you wound me so! I ask why?! Why hath you turned from the light Our Lord bestowed upon us and turned to the sullied lies that the Black abomination has sown within you?! Turn now, abandon this foul creature and return to the light so that you can be cleansed! Quickly, while you're-"

His nasal speech was cut-off by a sleek black arrow skimming passed his head and leaving a nasty gash across his wrinkled cheek. Back on street level, Ender slowly lowered his raised bow and growled an almost predatory growl. The Priest seemed, for the most part, unaffected and made another motion with his hand. At this signal, four large guards stepped up to the edge of the steeple and Ender froze.

Restrained in each off their arms was a member of the Ravens, with a burlap sack over their heads. Evnidni snorted.

"It seems the demon does indeed have a heart. As divine punishment, you shall watch as your tainted pawns are delivered from their evil to the Gates of the Nether! Do it."

Ender could only watch in horror and mute shock as the first sack was removed to reveal the platinum blonde hair and turquoise-blue eyes of Tina Sprout, the Raven Archer with an obvious infatuation with Ender. Her eyes met his and she relaxed a tiny amount, whispering a silent thank you before a sword blade was rammed through her. The light faded from her eyes and she slumped forward as she slid of the blade and down to the street below. Ender wasn't watching however, as his head was lowered and his eyes closed as he fell to his knees.

"If you give up and surrender yourself for public execution within the next ten minutes, I'll spare the others and they can remain as prisoners. Although I'm sure I can find some _other_ uses for the women." Evnidni proposed, the lust evident in his voice during the last sentence, before he turned and walked back inside the tower.

Ender made no move to react, he only looked at the prisoners, and then at the battalion of guards blocking him from before his head dropped back down. After a tense moment he muttered to himself.

"Heh, I guess I really couldn't avoid using them after all, eh Mother?" he mumbled with a slight laugh, the laugh of a broken man. He stood up, clenching his fists as a small, bright glow came from the orange gems in his rings. As he reached full height, head still lowered, he slid the bow back into its place on his back. Reaching over his right shoulder and over his right hip, he drew _Ender-Termina_ and _Reckoning_ respectively and stood swords held away from him, pointed to the ground like a triangle's sides. The rings reached an almost painful intensity and then suddenly flashed out as Ender crumpled over with an audible grunt of pain, as if the light has just burnt though his insides, before he stood again in a slight crouch and, with a slight flick of his wrists, bright violet flames cloaked the blades in an aura of beautiful destruction.

With an aura of unfiltered power, Ender looked up again and opened his eyes. The slight glow they had before was even more powerful as he bellowed a single command to the amassed guards.

"Stand Aside!"

The force of the command was enough to force most of them back a few paces. A few even abandoned their comrades in favour of 'surviving that black demon's wrath'. Ender didn't wait for any other response as he neared the huge group, crossing the flaming blades in front of him as he repeated the command.

"Stand! _**ASIDE!**_"

He roared. On the last word, he took a lunge forward and swung his blades in two horizontal arcs. Responding to his will, two wide sweeps of amethyst flame tore through the guards, shearing flesh from bone and reducing the rest to ash as countless men fell. When the smoke cleared, the 300 strong army had barely half its men left.

One of the watchmen frantically noticed this and notified Evnidni. Horror and panic quickly spread across his face as he scrambled back to the tower's edge.

"Kill them! Kill them now, dammit!" he ordered in a fit of blind panic. On his word, the bags were removed from the two middle hostages and a sword took their lives.

The falling bodies caught Ender's attention, prompting him to look up, only to see…

Alice. She was under the final bag. Ender's mind flashed with the memory of her rescue and how she said she 'felt safe' with him, and his grip on his swords slipped. As the sword slid into her from behind, his mind raged at him, cursing him for betraying her trust and damning him for dragging innocent people into his war. All this rage tapered away into a singular, catastrophic thought: Revenge.

With an illusory calm, he slid out of his fighting stance and closed his eyes, sheathing the sword in his left hand. As the blade slid into its scabbard, its flames retreated back into Ender's hands, glowing like magma in his veins as they retreated back up his arm and all the way into his closed left eye. When he opened them again, his left eye was aflame with the violet fire that still cloaked _Ender-Termina_. Moving said sword slowly, he brought the blade between his eyes, like a duellist before En-Garde before his dropped the blade low to his left and then brought it up in a shallow diagonal slash, leaving a wispy afterglow and a few embers of purple. For a tense moment, everything was still until suddenly…

"By Hellfire and the Void, I sentence thee to oblivion!"

A line of small purple-black explosions ripped across the tower, splitting it like a giant flaming sword and throwing loose masonry away to strike down a few more guards haphazardly. A primal, fearful scream echoed from the tower's remains as it fell before it hit the ground and threw a blanket of thick dust over the surrounding area. The last thing Ender saw was the beaten and exhausted Guards surrender to the Revolutionaries before he blacked out.

* * *

The first thing that Ender was aware of as he woke up was the soft surface his head was resting on. The second was the annoying sensation of someone slapping his face lightly. Unconsciously, he rolled to move away when his hand came into contact with something else soft and slightly yielding, eliciting a squeak from said object. Opening his eyes, Ender saw three things:

Firstly, Lynelle's face, a shade of pink resembling a grapefruit; secondly, Marie sitting not far off with a slight smile, meaning she was highly amused by something; thirdly, his hand… directly planted on Lynelle's breast. Realising his mistake, he calmly removed his hand and sat up from where he had evidently been resting on Lynelle's lap. He glanced at Lynelle and flexed the hand he had grabbed her with. Looking at her again, he said something he might regret later.

"Hmm, not bad."

Marie's smile grew as she started chuckling at the expense of Lynelle, whose blush exploded and she just short of fainted. Ender joined in with the chuckling for a bit before he quietened down again.

"So, what happened after I passed out?" he asked.

Lynelle snapped out of her daze. "The Guards near the church gave up and a surrender order was given, so Bennett took command of the Raven's and had the ones that surrendered put into cells and the ones that resisted were killed or captured." She paused for a moment before she broke out in a wide smile. "We did it. We've won."

"The First of many, I'm sure. We were just about to begin sweeping the town for any left-over resisting Guards." Marie contributed, leaning on the wall of the medium sized office they were in.

"Right. Lynelle, come with me, there's someone I want you to meet. Where are we by the way?" He asked, rising from the sofa he was sat on before offering a hand to Lynelle and pulling her up.

"It used to be the Mayor's office in the Town Hall. Now… It's your office."

"My office?"

"Yeah, it was Bennett's idea. Said you'd need a place to plan and such."

"Sounds about right for him. Anyway, you might want to meet this guy as well Marie. He was the group leader on the west side."

As he exited the office, he waved over a runner, and a sullen-looking orange-haired girl came over.

"Fetch the west group leader and bring him to the courtyard, please."

With just a nod, she ran towards where the soldiers where resting to deliver the message. 20 minutes later, she arrived at the courtyard with the mentioned man…

"Dad?!" Lynelle panicked.

"Hey, Lynn."

Ender watched with a slight degree of amusement before he removed himself and headed towards the fallen church.

* * *

With a groan of pain and a considerable amount of effort from his overly pampered body, High Priest Evnidni pushed a reasonably large (at least to him) lump of rubble off of his chest as he finally came to after that _abomination _dropped a _goddamn __**tower **_on top of him. His legs were obviously broken and most of his ribs were probably crushed as well. If he didn't get help soon, he'd be in trouble. As he started to crawl forward on his front, he cackled mentally.

'_The first thing I'm going to do when I get out of here is relax in the capital for a bit, then I'm going to come back and rape that bastard's little whores while that freak is forced to watch. Hehehe-'_

His internal monologue was cut short by someone grabbing a fistful of his grey, dying hair and hauling him roughly upwards until he was face to face with said 'freak' with a glare that screamed bloody murder.

"_**What**_ did you just call those girls, and you're going to do _**what**_ to them?"

All the priest could do was whimper pathetically. Maybe that monologue wasn't as internal as he had previously thought.

"P-Please… have mercy…"

Ender's glare became even more murderous than it was before. "Mercy?... _Mercy!? After everything you've done and planned to do, you expect __**MERCY!?**_ _**After I'm done with you, even your own fucking mother wouldn't recognise your mangled corpse, you worthless piece of shit!**_"

At that he hauled the priest onto his feet and planted a stomp-kick into his sternum, forcing him against a large piece of rubble, which Ender followed up with two straight punches to his face before driving a knee into his stomach. The priest curled forwards from the blow, and Ender slammed an elbow into the exposed back of the neck, forcing the priest onto the ground again, where the pissed-off hybrid stomped on the side of his face, breaking his nose and a few teeth. As he tried to reach out and pull himself away, Ender stomped on his arm, snapping the frail bone with ease, and Evnidni screamed in renewed pain.

"High Priest Luraz-Baptiste Evnidni, for your crimes against this town and its people, I'm going to make sure to suffer."

Ender growled from behind him, but he daren't look for fear of the walking nightmare he had brought upon himself. Ender never gave him the choice as he roughly flipped him onto his back as the priest gazed at him in absolute terror. Ender stepped back and stood over him for a moment as he slowly drew out his axe _Sorrow_.

"My bow would be too fast, and my swords too merciful. Your death will not add to my Guilt, so I shall not stain its blade with your blood either, so it only remains for you to feel the powerlessness and despair within Sorrow."

With a lightning-fast movement he threw the diamond axe into the fallen priest's thigh, the blade cutting deep into the fleshly muscle. And then the screams began.

* * *

It was over an hour later that Ender's rage was spent. Evnidni was a shivering, unconscious mess. His limbs had been hacked off one by one and the wounds seared shut, deep cuts littered his head and torso and many parts of his remaining body where broken and misshapen.

Ender wasn't much better. He was cloaked in blood, although none of it was his own, and the predator's gait he had held wasn't helping. After observing the twitching pile of flesh in front of him for a moment, he decided it was time to end it. Supporting the mutilated priest on a piece of rubble, he punched him awake. The priest's eyes opened with a hollow, defeated acceptance.

"I guess… it's…time," He wheezed out, before he gave a small chuckle that quickly became an agonising cough. "I'll see you… in hell, because… that's… where you're…going, after… this…"

Ender's eyes hardened passed the purple steel they were already. "I won't deny that. Save me a space when you get there, you sanctimonious piece of shit." He rolled his wrist holding the axe once as he spoke, before he cleaved it into the priest's neck, finally silencing him forever.

Without a sound, he retrieved his axe and cleaned it on Evnidni's already bloody robes before he began to navigate his way out of the ruins he was in, his pace slow and his walk tired as he set back towards the town hall.

* * *

The girls instantly became worried as they saw their leader walk numbly back to the town hall and shut himself inside his office, so when they approached the room they held a certain degree of caution when they heard a sharp thud from inside. When they entered, they was Ender sitting with his head down at his desk, and his silver swallow-shaped dagger stabbed into the table, or more specifically into the map of the local region, right through the nearest village to the one they had just captured. If he noticed their presence, he didn't show it as he sat glaring at the map as if it were about to catch fire. Suddenly his eyes flicked up, as he was already expecting them, and he spoke brusquely.

"Have all the soldiers assembled in the courtyard. It's about time I gave that speech."

Lynelle and Marie frowned a bit, the former looking a little upset at this address, and the later raised her voice a little.

"Hey, I know it's been a hard day, but don't get snippy at us. Just relax for a second, okay?"

Ender's hard look softened and he slumped back in his chair with a sigh.

"Yeah, you're right… it's just that… I can't help but feel like…like I'm dragging everyone into my problems. It's really stressing me out and… ughh."

Marie smiled. "Forget about the speech for now, and just relax for a bit. Maybe get a bath or something later on. Who knows… I might invite you to join me and the girls… I'm sure none of them will object to our dashing, attractive leader unwinding in a steamy bath surrounded with beautiful women…" she teased, an equally teasing smirk on her tough yet delicate face.

Ender returned the smirk in kind. "Watch it, I might just take you up on that offer. You never know, might just help boost 'morale', If they don't get too turned on that is. " He stood up with a chuckle and rolled his shoulders. "I guess I'll relax for a bit. Have the men get ready in about 15 *Crack*…make that 30 minutes."

He quickly crossed the room as Marie grabbed Lynelle, who was blushing like a tomato from Marie's 'suggestion', and left with a slight chuckle. Now alone, Ender decided to lounge across one of the sofas and read a book. 30 minutes later, Lynelle came back in to the scene of Ender asleep on the sofa, with an open book resting page down on his chest and a peaceful expression on his face.

'_I never noticed it before, he really is quite handsome when he's not fighting… wait, what?! Why did I just think that?!'_ She though to herself, a slight blush forming as she mentally panicked. A quick movement drew out of her mind, and she looked at Ender, who was grimacing in his sleep, and making short fitful movements. '_Probably a nightmare…'_ She lightly touched his cheek as she crouched next to him, and his reaction was instant as her grabbed her wrist and his eyes flew open. His grip was iron and his eyes glassy for a moment until he processed what he was seeing and they both softened. Lynelle smiled despite the pain in her wrist.

"It's time."

Ender smoothly transitioned into a serious mood and nodded as he stood up and offer her a hand up. As he walked to where he would give his speech, he didn't let go of her hand and Lynelle had to fight off another blush. '_Dammit Lynn, you're supposed to be a skilled assassin! Not blushing like a teenager... Even though I technically still am one…_' Evidently, they had arrived while she was mentally berating herself. Ender gave her hand a comforting squeeze before he dropped it a few meters away from the balcony. As they walked with Ender centre-front and Lynelle back-left, Marie appeared and fell into step on the right and the trio walked out onto the veranda overlooking his intended audience in perfect synchronicity. The collected Ravens, villagers and turn-coat guards gave out a cheer as they came into view, to which Ender responded by raising his right hand in a fist. The crowd quietened and he took a breath before he spoke in a powerful voice.

"Today, we have won a great victory as a band of revolutionaries. We have shown the people, ourselves and our enemy, the Holy Church of the Creator, that they aren't as invincible as they thought! They have manipulated, extorted, threatened, down-trodden and oppressed us for too long!

For too long have the common people suffered as the Church's clergymen lived in luxury, fed by the gold stolen from your hard-work under the guise of 'Religious Taxation'. Many families in those cities and towns still occupied are struggling to put enough food on the table, while the Priests and their ilk and supporters live comfortably within noble households and luxury mansions. It is our duty to stand against this act of greed and extortion!

For too long have they discriminated against those not of 'pure' ethnicity! Where is it their place to cast judgement on a person by the way their supposedly 'almighty' god has made them? A woman should not be forced from her village because she is in love with a man of the desert tribes! A child should not be made to live without parents because they broke an un-written rule about racial purity, and then be tortured as an example! This registers on an emotional level to many of you, myself included. I am the child of an enderman father and a human mother. You all knew this, and still chose to follow my lead on this day! That alone puts you leagues above the thrice-be-damned Church, and it is up to us, and people like us, to see the day that the likes of the Lejare Fires and the Sinji Massacre are never repeated!

Today was a victory, that no can deny, but it is only the first step we can take as a ragtag group of revolutionaries and freedom fighters. To press onwards in our campaign, we must become more! We must become a proper army! We will fight for the freedom this country deserves, and dethrone the Church from their ill-gained power! We are the Revolutionary Liberation Army, and we will be Freedom's Wings to all those without power, and all those who need it!"

Ender finished by raising his right fist high, Lynelle and Marie stepping forward to the same, and the crowd broke out into a chorus of chants of "Freedom's Wings!" as he slowly looked across the crowd. His eyes caught Bennett's and they both gave a curt, determined nod to one another. As he turned to go back inside, a single thought stood out among the maelstrom of his mind;

'_And so it begins…'_

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys. Once again, I apologise for the extremely long wait, but nothing was going right for me this entire time. If it wasn't my computer having a meltdown, it was exam prep for my A-levels, and if it wasn't my A-levels it was my parents forcing me to look for a job at every moment of the day. Throw on the dash of writer's block and a sprinkle of Dyspraxia (like Dyslexia, except it affects writing instead of reading), and I'm convinced the universe hates me. -_-**

**A quick explanation of Ender's flame powers: the Gem inside the rings are actually Blaze Rod fragments, and combined with Ender's powers they generate purple flames. The reason he curled up in pain was because a lot of energy was transferred directly into him in exchange for a fraction of his life force. The flaming eye thing is partly inspired by Black*Rock Shooter, and the idea is that he is storing part of the energy from the sword inside his eye, while the rest goes to his other sword, allowing him to use that OP flame cut power. In theory, he could to the same thing with any of his weapons. Like with his bow, if it's in his right hand, his left eye will be on fire, and the arrows would be explosive.**

**Anyway, I'll be taking a short break to flesh out and clean up the second half of this story, so it might take a little longer to post the next chapter. The next half will be about 1 and half/ 2 years into the war, so the characters will be a little older, and there'll be a bit about Ender's past, specifically the Lejare Fires and Sinji Massacre mentioned earlier in the speech. and then finally the final battle.**

**Until next time,**

**~Reaper**


	8. Mid-Story Update

Mid-Arc Notice:

Just a few quick notes to pass along:

As you may have noticed, the first part of the story, or as I called it the 'Revolution Arc', is complete, and the second 'World's End' Arc is fully planned out. I'll be starting on the first chapter of the arc soon, so it'll be up in probably a few weeks.

I'm also in the process of planning a side-story set around two new characters; Alexander 'Silver' Apateon and his little sister Alys, during the events of the Sinji Massacre mentioned in the last chapter. You can also expect an appearance from them in the next chapter of Herobrine's Curse, another brilliant Minecraft story by my friend and fellow writer _**IHateCliffhangerz**_.

_**Link to her page: u/6271863/IHateCliffhangerz**_

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An update on the Poll: In joint first are my Infinite Stratos story 'The Wolf of the IS Academy' and my Highschool DxD story 'The Rogue Knight', with my Borderlands 'Warlock of Pandora' and Soul Eater 'A Bullet in Madness' tied for second. The two other stories, Code Geass 'Red Star Rising' and Sword Art Online 'A sword's dance of Black and White' had no votes, and were deleted from the running.

Here's a little taster for the four remaining stories:

'The Wolf of the IS Academy' follows James Orimura, adoptive brother to Ichika, as he struggles as the world's only other Male IS pilot, along with shattered memories of a dark, violent life that seem to pop up from a past life.

'The Rogue Knight' follows Alexander Pierce, a seemingly regular high school third year. But what's causing his first-year little sister to emit such a powerful aura? And how is he connected to the masked devil-slaying Knight piece feared throughout the underworld as the Rogue Knight?

In 'The Warlock of Pandora', Nero Grey is a drifter, a mercenary and a rogue. Oh, I did I forget that he's the only man in the universe armed with the powers of a Siren? He's lost everything he's ever had, even his real name, so when he's caught in a train-bomb caused by a psychotic business man; he decides he's had enough. Now he's gonna show Hyperion why you don't piss off a Warlock.

A re-write of 'What is Hidden', my previous story, 'A Bullet in Madness' follows a new weapon-meister pair arriving in Death City a month after the Kishin's defeat. Even though he's dead, Is Asura's influence truly gone as well? Remnants of his madness are still lurking around; causing chaos and havoc where-ever they go. Reaver and Mira have witnessed one such remnant first hand, and have been hunting it relentlessly ever since. And now it's come to Nevada.

And that's that! If one of these caught your interest, then be sure to vote in the Poll on my profile to increase its chances of being written.

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That's all for now, so I'll see you in the next chapter.

Signed,

~Reaper


	9. Chapter 7: Revolutionary's Ball

**A/N: I'm Back! Sorry about the impromptu hiatus (college and work stuff caught up to me), I'm mostly done with the final planning, so I figured I'd make a start on the second half of the story. I've got the two most significant 'present-day' battles drafted, as well as the two flash-backs, and the epilogue, I just need to slot it all together. Anyway, back to the next chapter:**

**Timescale, this is set just under two years after the end of the first battle, (or the Battle for Pentel, as I may call it. The town's name is Pentel, although I hadn't thought to name it before.), so naturally; the Characters are older, (Ender: 21, Lynelle: 19, Marie: 20), the War has progressed, Freedom's Wings has grown and the girls have gained a lot of experience in combat as well as two years of extra training from Ender.**

**EDIT: I forgot to put Line Breaks in last time and it was bugging me, so I re-uploaded the chapter. Sorry if I confused any of my regular readers.**

* * *

Chapter 7:

Mistral City was famous for many things: Its lucrative industries, rich history and wealthy upper classes all included. It was for this exact reason that the city's usually busy mid-November night-life was even more abuzz that the nights before: Aria Lerenze, sole daughter of one of the most successful metal merchants in the country, was having an extravagant 18th birthday party. A large portion of the country's elite were in attendance, not to mention the vast number of young bachelors here to try their hand at wooing the young heiress.

Aria was, with no false modesty, highly regarded as one of the most beautiful women of her generation, maybe even outside of her own generation, so she was used to being surrounded by some of the most handsome men she had ever met, yet as she overlooked the on-going party she stood alone with a sullen look that seemed incongruous with her surroundings. Absently tucking a lock of her mid-back length blonde hair behind her ear, her royal blue eyes idly contemplated the champagne flute in her hand as her thoughts returned to the corrupt, immoral dealings she was all but forced into inheriting from her father. She thought of the close to slave-like conditions she had seen when she had snuck away during a tour of one of his factories and she seethed with rage on the inside, while on the outside she just let out a 'tch' of irritation to mask her inner turmoil.

"Is everything okay, Lady Aria?"

The blonde turned to regard her personal handmaid, a 17 year old girl with straight raven black hair that fell just past her shoulders. Apparently, the head caretakers had taken her in as an orphan after her parents and older brother died in a bandit raid 9 years ago and raised her as a maid. Aria was only 13 back when they first met 4 years after that, and she and the small 12 year old maid-in-training had become close friends right from the start. Despite this, even though they were as close as two girls could get, there was still one thing Aria didn't understand; why were her personal maid/ best friend's eyes the unusual colour they were. Why were they _purple?_ She had asked the ravenette about it before, but she would never say more than that it came from a delicate part of her past, so she soon stopped asking. Shaking the thoughts from her head, she spoke.

"What have I told you about calling me 'Lady' when we're alone, Morgana? It's too stuffy of a title."

"You know I can't do that, my lady." She replied with a fake smile, before she dropped her voice to a gossip-like whisper. "_After all, we're not really alone are we?"_ Her grape-coloured eyes flicked over her shoulder for a brief moment, to one of the armoured bodyguards trying (and failing) to subtly eavesdrop on their conversation and sell her out to her father if she were to so much as think a bad word about him. The Lady of the Manor sighed in annoyance.

"I guess you're right about that. Still…" She turned back around to overlook the party once again. "I can't help but think that a great _force for change_ is coming."

The maid quickly caught on to her implied meaning and stepped close enough that they could talk without being over heard. "Are you worried that Freedom's Wings will come?" she asked.

Aria laughed softly and replied. "I'm worried that they _won't_. They are what this country needs, instead of letting it rot under the Church and their corrupt benefactors. Including my_ parasite_ of a _father_." She glanced at her friend's worried face, but couldn't help but notice the slight gleam of approval in her eyes.

"I know this is personal for you as well, Morgana. I just hope they can prevent what happened to your family happening to anyone else's. I'm sure your brother would have wanted the same."

The ravenette let a small, sad smile grace her features. "He would have, most definitely. James could never let someone be oppressed like this, even as a kid."

"I remember something about that. He stood up to a group of older boys picking on a little wolf-pup, and then nursed it back to health, didn't he? I would have loved to meet someone as kind as him, but instead I'm stuck with the agitating mass of 'charming' bachelors down stairs. How old would he have been this year?"

"About 21, his birthday would have been 9 months ago. March 14th."

"He could have been at this party then. Who knows, maybe would have caught my eye and whisked me off my feet." The blonde laughed slightly before looking down with a sad smile, Morgana doing the same.

Suddenly the doorman/announcer caught their attention with his pompous, flamboyant (yet somehow stony) voice.

"Presenting Nathaniel Mors and his escorts; Lydia Snowfall and Grace Shadows."

Hearing this, the pair of girls turned their attention to the grand door as three figures entered, a young man and two young women, one on each arm.

The man, Nathaniel Mors, was stood in the centre, and was the tallest of three. His straight black hair was pulled back into a short, low ponytail and his eyes were a deep shade of forest green. He wore a sharp black tailored suit and waistcoat with a medium grey shirt and a green tie to match his eyes, with a polished pair of dress shoes. His face was one of rugged elegance with a slight burn to his left side that did nothing to take from his appearance, and a collective swoon could almost be heard from most of the single women in the room, and even some of the married ones. His eyes flicked upwards, instantly connecting to Aria's royal blue ones and she could have sworn they flicked mysteriously for only the briefest of moments before he dropped his gaze back to the room.

The young lady to his left was most likely Lydia Snowfall, as her snow-white hair was tied up into an elegant braided bun with some left loose to frame her face. Her eyes were a soft lilac as they smoothly slipped between watching Nathaniel and observing the room, and her face was smooth and innocent with a light, gentle smile. She wore an elegant white ball gown that hugged her figure and looped around her neck, leaving her back exposed but covering her chest. It hung loose over her legs, stopping just before the ground, mostly covering her white heels. A lot of the tamer men in the room were drawn to her, even if the man by her side quickly and efficiently slaughtered any chance they had at wooing her.

The other woman would have been Grace Shadows by process of elimination, and her hair was a lot like her name sake. Her wavy ebony hair tumbled to her shoulders and her slate grey eyes watched the room impassively with an air of purpose and grace. Her own dress was a fitting charcoal black that looped over her left shoulder and had a long slit going up to her mid-thigh on her right leg, with a pair of strappy black flats. A pair of diamond earrings hung from her ears, which swung lightly as she turned her head to listen to something Nathaniel whispered to her before she smiled slightly, nodded and let go of his arm to disappear into the crowd. A few of the more adventurous men approached her individually, but none lasted long before she turned them down.

Aria sighed at that. Only a hopeless idiot would try to seduce a woman that arrived with a young man like Nathaniel, even if it was with another woman. Speaking of Nathaniel, Aria found herself being drawn to him for some reason. It wasn't that she'd fallen in love on first sight, although she would admit he was quite the attractive man, it was more like she got the feeling something… important was going to happen, and he was at the centre of it. Following that feeling, she turned gracefully on the spot and made to greet her newest guests.

* * *

Nathaniel stood near the edge of the ballroom with Lydia, engaged in a slightly less-than-polite conversation with one of the nameless party guests, a portly old man with an air of arrogance so thick you could stop a crossbow bolt with it, and his equally pretentious (and plump) wife as Aria crossed the floor with grace one would expect from the sole heiress of a family as famous as hers. Just out of earshot, the young man effortlessly riposted a likely barbed statement from the short man's wife, and the man tried to reply on her behalf, only to be shot down by another statement she couldn't quite catch. As she drew closer, Aria recognised the older couple as the owners of a sugar mill almost as profitable as her own families company.

"That's completely absurd! Even if that were true, the conditions you are accusing us of are well within standard trading laws' defined specifications!" the blubbery woman screeched waving a finger at the raven-haired man, rather indignantly.

"The laws you are quoting are set out for, and hence only apply to, labour internment facilities and/or combined industry hostels. Your mills are neither charged with the overseeing of sentenced criminals, nor are they even equipped with standard hostel regulation facilities, so you are, in fact, and I'll say it a fourth time, subjecting your workers to unfair and Illegal maltreatment." The forest-eyed young man stated calmly, even while levelling the whale-on-legs with a stony glare. "Unless you can provide me solid evidence that proves otherwise, not some prised up villager you paid to give a fake testimony, I'm finished speaking on the matter."

The couple seemed even more insulted as the woman 'hmf'ed and her husband muttered a few choice insults before he spoke up. "Come along, Augustine. I've grown tired of this petty man's outrageous accusations." He said as he stuck his nose up and started walking away, his wife following a few moments later. Aria used this opportunity to get a little closer and he turned his head in her direction.

"I must apologise for that unsightly affair, just a difference of opinion between two business owners. Nathaniel Mors, a pleasure to meet you." He said with a charming smile as he held out his hand. Aria cordially smiled back and placed her hand on his as he gentle pressed it to his lips. Unseen by her, the snow-haired Lydia excused herself to retrieve two flutes of Champaign. The song slowly stopped, only for the band to start again with another smooth melody. "May I have this dance?"

With a gentle nod from her, the two of them glided onto the ballroom. As they danced, Aria noted how his movements were smooth, flowing and delicate, yet at the same time ran with diluted power and finesse. His hand was gentle on her own, and on her waist, but she could feel the strength hidden within them, as if he were a fighter beneath his smooth, aristocratic surface. It was then that she realised that the faux-pas she had commited; she hadn't even given him her name. "Aria Lerenze, a pleasure also."

The slight smile she received told her that the introduction was unnecessary "I know, just wanted to treat you simply as a beautiful young lady rather than a family heir. I wish you a very happy birthday. What can I do for you, my lady?" He told her as he gently spun her around.

Forcibly dispelling the blush from his compliment, she replied "Seeing as this a party dedicated to me, it would only be proper that I greet my guests personally. I take it you are enjoying yourself?"

"I am, Miss Lerenze. It is definitely up to the standard expected from a family as prestigious as yours."

"Just Aria, please." Her eyes flickered over his shoulder for a moment. "You wouldn't happen to know where your date for the evening has gone, would you? It would be rude not to extend the same courtesy of a welcome to her."

"Lydia? She's not my date, she and Grace are… partners of mine, per-say. As for where she has dis-appeared to, I believe she has gone to acquire some refreshments for you and I. She's not much of a drinker herself." His tone was light and cordial to begin with, but a sliver of seriousness intertwined with his words as he continued. "When she returns, I will require a word with the two of you, and it is not a conversation to be held without being behind closed doors."

Aria frowned slightly at the address but dropped her voice accordingly. "And what is this pertaining to?"

"The future of this country, and your role in it."

The Heiress raised an eyebrow even as her frown depended. Before she could question it, Lydia arrived beside the dance floor and the dancing pair slipped over to her. When they drew close, Lydia handed one of two Champaign flutes to her, handing the other to her male partner. The snow-haired girl gave the heiress a polite smile and a soft nod of the head to Nathaniel, the raven-haired man continued.

"Well then, now we're all here, shall we retire for the moment?"

Aria eyed him sceptically for a moment before replying in a cordial, yet subtly sceptical, tone. "Indeed. Follow me, if you don't mind."

He smiled slightly and mysteriously. "Not at all."

* * *

Aria's mind was working overtime as she lead the walking enigma that was Nathaniel Mors and his companion though the halls of her home, heading towards one of the guest bedrooms. She worked and re-worked every aspect of his persona that she could, and they yielded no answers. With a silent growl of frustration, she stopped at one of the doors and withdrew a nondescript key, unlocking the door.

"I'm sure this will do." She remarked, to which Nathaniel nodded. The trio crossed into the room and each took a place a small distance for the others. Lydia went over to the bed, were she gracefully sat and slipped off her white high-heels, Nathaniel leaned against a tall oak-wood wardrobe on the other side of the room, eyes closed and Aria went to the large window, leaning on the windowsill as she looked out over the vast gardens outside. Nathaniel was the first to speak, without opening his eyes.

"What's the status on Grace's task?" he directed towards the white haired girl gently massaging her feet on the bed.

"The job is done, and she is currently trying to avoid the affections of one very drunk Earl of Yumia."

Nathaniel gave an affirmative hum before falling quiet again. Lydia took the hint and turned her head to the blonde-haired heiress quietly observing the interaction between the two.

"Normally, there is a long, and rather arduous, process to this, but frankly we don't have time, so I'll be straight with you: We know."

Aria was for the most part concerned, but a spike of nervous panic shot up her system. Even so, she managed to maintain a mostly composed answer. "And what, pray tell, is it that you 'know'?"

"Everything. We know about the conditions of your father's factories, his dealing with the Church and… You. We know about your view on the situation and the opinion of a certain revolutionary group."

Aria's blood ran cold. _'They know about that!? Are they going to tell my father!?'_ She flinched slightly as Nathaniel's eyes flicked open suddenly and he pushed himself from the wardrobe. Turning towards the door, he held a hand back and rolled his hand in a motion to continue talking as he crept closer to the door, as if trying not to make any sound.

"A revolutionary group that could force control of the company from your father's hands and give hope to those you can't bear to see suffering…" Lydia continued as Aria stared at her with wide eyes.

"Freedom's Wings." At that moment, Nathaniel threw the door open and grabbed a lone guard who had been eavesdropping. In less than a few moments, he yanked the guard forward, slipped behind him and grabbed his head, giving it a sharp twist and snapping the man's neck with a resounding and haunting crack. He dragged the corpse inside as he softly closed the door again, and then dragged it over to the wardrobe and calmly hid it inside. With a calm yet powerful aura, Nathaniel stood up to full height before a dark purple smoke started to swirl off of him.

"Allow me to re-introduce myself. To the general public, I am known as Lucifer Mors." The smoke expanded to cover him entirely as he spoke. When it cleared, Nathaniel was gone and 'Lucifer' took his place. His forest green eyes had become a cold, vengeful amethyst purple, and his black hair now hung loose with a few stands across and framing his face. His faint, almost non-existent burn scar was replaced by hard, almost leathery black flesh that covered part of his left side, just touching a third his lips and eye. His outfit had changed too. Gone was his suit and tie, instead replaced by a worn black military style coat over top a black shirt and waistcoat, along with a belt of hidden throwing knives. The hood was left down, and the face-scarf loose around his neck but, aside from the weapons he wasn't carrying, he fit the stories perfectly. "Leader of the Revolutionary Liberation Army, Freedom's Wings."

At this point, Aria was standing perfectly still in utter shock, so much that she didn't register the thus-far-absent Grace Shadows step to his side. Snapping out of her shock, she blinked owlishly. "Wait… If you're really him… does that mean…?" she trailed off, her eyes falling on the now standing 'Lydia'.

"Indeed. They are my closes lieutenants, and my personal apprentices. Ascia Nix…" 'Lydia' disappeared into silvery white smoke, returning in a black hooded cloak, with a black shirt and tight leather jacket with a black skirt and leggings with lightweight black boots. "And Mayri Skia." 'Grace' reappeared from her own blackish grey smoke in a similar black cloak, with a black long sleeve top with cut-off shoulders and black riding trousers with matching black ankle boots. Absently, Aria noted that their hair and eyes hadn't changed, and berated herself for not noticing it sooner that two of the most feared and respected women of her era had just walked into her family home.

"My… god…This is actually happening, isn't it?" she breathed, still shocked from having three living legends/ wanted terrorists (depending on who you asked) suddenly unveil themselves in front of her.

"We, as a force for people, will support you in your mission for the workers of your company. In return you must support our cause as well, using whatever resources you can to build support and supplies among the people. There only one condition…"

"My father must die." She said with a hard, edged voice.

"Correct. For you to gain sole access as the proprietor of your family's recourses, you must remove the one person that could interfere."

"I am aware. He deserves to die for what he has done, but he is still my father. I do not want him to suffer."

"Then it shall be done. Grace, could you please take care of that?" Taking the hint, Mayri turned on her heel and left as the smoke changed her back into her party dress and flats. When she was gone, Aria recalled a small detail from earlier.

"You said before about Grace having a task she had completed. If not my father, who else would the 'Black Shadow of Freedom's Wings' be after?"

Lucifer gave her an evaluating look for a few moments before he spoke, as if deciding if she was important enough to know. "I believe you recall the young and… less than honourable Julius Porticco?"

"Indeed. The man was a vulgar, womanising playboy who offended me to no end."

"Quite so. Anyway, it was noted that was alone not in attendance to this event. His father, one of the 15 seat council, was accompanying him as a front for a meeting with a Church correspondent. The purpose of this meeting? Our honourable councilman was accepting hush money over domestic issues in the city. The best way to remove a disease is to destroy it at the source, so she did just that. Now the Church has been weakened and the Council is a little closer to becoming what they were formed to be."

"That's a little dark…"

"Death often is. However it is a necessary evil in order to free this country. In any case, let's not talk about this topic. It's best left to those with already bloodied hands." Lucifer said, his voice and head low as he muttered the last sentence. "We still have to resolve the matter of your family's wealth. Do you have any inheritance documents on hand?"

"Yes, they should be in my father's study."

"Good. You'll need them. The sooner this is cleared, the less risk that your father and Councilman Porticco will be found before my company and I can extract ourselves from the situation."

Aria nodded in agreement as she spoke. "I'll send for my personal maid. She would be the maid with the black hair and… purple… eyes." she trailed off as the pictured the girl in her mind. Suddenly, she locked with the slightly confused amethysts and made a realisation. "Hey, would you happen to… know… how… you were born with eyes that colour?"

Lucifer frowned slightly and his eyes darkened. "That's a painful part of my past I would like to avoid at this point…"

Aria's eyes dropped. "That's what she says as well." She muttered under her breath, but he still caught it and raised an eye brow without lifting his frown. Without noticing his reaction she looked back up again. "Well I'll send for her now, so I'll be back shortly." She stated before the turned on her heel and left. As she opened the door, Mayri stepped into the room and Aria flashed her a sullen look. The black haired assassin softly closed the door behind her, leaving Lucifer and his two lieutenants alone in the room. All was still for a few moments before Lucifer sighed.

"This never gets any easier, eh Lynelle?"

In response, Ascia Nix, or rather a disguised Lynelle Haynes, flopped back onto the bed. "You got that right, Ender."

He sniffed in amusement before he turned to Mayri Skia, or a disguised Marie Kurono. "Given how early you returned, I'd assume that Mr Lerenze still lives?"

"The bastard's locked up in his room with some… female company." Her face, and those of the two other assassins, fell in disgust at the last words. "I'll have to wait until he's alone. No harm to innocents."

The trio eclipsed into silence, and several minutes passed until a soft knock at the door prompted Ender to open it, allowing Aria and a slightly younger raven-haired maid carrying a small stack of papers to walk past. They both passed without noticing him behind the door, and Ender used that chance to glance at the maid in an evaluative way. She turned her head slightly to speak to her lady, and a spark of recognition ran through him as he spied a glimpse of her grape-tinted eyes.

'_Do I know this girl? Why do feel so… saddened, yet relieved…'_ He shook his head of the thoughts as he nudged the door closed with an almost inaudible click. Inclined toward the side of caution, he pulled the cloth back over his face.

"Is everything in order?" The sound of his voice made the two girls jump, although Aria jumped less so. They turned, Aria in less surprise than her maid. The maid took in his features, her eyes widening when they met his own amethyst ones. She took a second to re-evaluate his face, particularly his black skin around his eye, which his cloth couldn't cover. She opened her mouth a few times, as if to speak, but evidently couldn't find the words and ultimately abandoned the attempt after 'Lucifer' narrowed his eyes at her.

"Everything is here, we just need to review it before I need to collect my… Inheritence." The Blonde heiress finished sadly. Noticing the visual confrontation between them, she quickly realised her mistake. "I believe I neglected to introduce you. This is my personal maid, and close friend Morgana." Another spark of recognition shot up Ender's spine and he froze, thankfully unnoticed by those in the room. The heiress continued. "Morgana, this is a man I believe you've wanted to meet for a long time now. May I introduce, Lucifer Mors of Freedom's Wings."

The young maid's eyes widened again before she dropped into a deep curtsey. "It's a p-pleasure to meet you, Mr Mors." She stammered in awe, her previous question apparently forgotten.

"Lucifer will do fine. It's only an alias after all." He then turned his attention back to the heiress. "You need to return to the party. If you're gone for too long, people will become suspicious. Mayri, You know what you need to do. Ascia, Morgana and I will remain here to review these papers. Let's get this done right people, we've only got one shot at this."

"Right." Marie and Lynelle both said at the same time, giving a short salute before going about their respective tasks. Aria just hummed in agreement before gliding out of the room with a grace expected of a high-born heiress.

"…R-right" Morgana agreed tentatively, casting a quick glance at the revolutionary leader currently frowning slightly in his own thoughts.

* * *

More than a few minutes passed until Ender growled slightly and set down the sheet he was reading. His gaze flicked to the source of a rather irritating question; Morgana. _'Why the hell it she so heart-wrenchingly familiar?'_ With a sigh, he rose from the table. "Morgana, I need a word. Ascia, Finish up here, I'm done on my end."

"Got it." Was Ascia's almost instant reply, without looking up from her work.

"O-Okay…" The black-haired maid shuffled some finished papers and slowly joined Ender at the door. He opened it for her and they stepped though in silence. They walked for a few minutes, Ender having raised his disguise to become 'Nathaniel' once again, much to the maid's shock and intrigue as the smoke writhed around him. There was a tense silence between them as they walked around most quiet parts of the building, avoiding the obnoxiously loud celebrations as much as possible. Finally, the silence became too much and the raven-haired girl nervously attempted to begin a dialogue.

"W-Why… Why did you ask for me to, um, walk with you? D-did you want to talk about something?"

"My apologies, I intended to learn a little more about you, but I was caught up in my thought a little. If we are to work together, I need to ascertain certain aspects of your background that could cause potential security risks."

"What do you mean? My past?"

"If possible, yes."

A deep sadness passed behind her eyes that a less observant person would have missed. "Oh, That's…" Suddenly, an older couple, the Head Maid and Head Butler, both around their forties, rounded the corner further up the hall. The maid had soft chestnut hair that fell to her shoulders and gentle green eyes, and the butler, her husband if the identical wedding rings were any indication, had darker brown hair brushed up away from his face and warm brown eyes, which light up as they spotted the young maid, oblivious to the disguised assassin hiding in the shadow of an old grandfather clock. Morgana noticed them and a smile came to her own face.

"Ah, Hello Mama, Papa."

The head maid smiled back. "Oh, hello Morgana. Did Lady Aria give you a few minutes to yourself?"

The younger maid gave a subtle, tentative glance at the hiding assassin, who gestured that meant 'I'm not here'. "Yes she did, Mama. I decided to take a quick walk around the manor. I didn't expect to bump into you and Papa though."

The butler smiled next and spoke. "Well, your mother and I were just finishing our rounds, so we must be off. I hope you're staying out of trouble?"

"Of Course, Papa. You know me better than that."

"I know, I'm just teasing. Anyway, your mother and I must be on our way. Goodbye for now, Morgana."

"Goodbye Mama, Papa." With that, the couple continued on their way, and Ender slipped out the shadows. He glanced at the two retreating figures before raising an eyebrow towards the black-haired girl. In less than a second, his face fell back to its neutral state.

"Those are adoptive parents. You're not their birth-child."

The young maid tried weakly to deny it, but Ender cut her off abruptly.

"I may not be from the city, but I'm far from incompetent. You shared little to no resemblance to those two, so spared me the denial. What happened to your birth parents?"

She remained apprehensive and quiet at first, but eventually caved. She stopped walking and slowly sat down on a nearby chair, and Ender sat down next to her.

"You're right; they're not my real parents. The village where I was born was attacked and my family was…" her voice trembled and she had to stop to take a shaky breath. "My parents and my older brother were killed. I haven't seen any of them for 9 years… I love my Mama and Papa, but I can't bring myself to call them my Mother and Father. I feel like I would be betraying their memories if I did…" a single sob escaped her as her hands went to her face.

"9 years? The Lejare Fires…" he mumbled. He slowly looked at her before he spoke directly to her.

"I'm sorry for your loss. I lost my family in the Fires as well. My father worked as a hunter and my mother worked as a healer. It wasn't a large village, but we were close. It was called Yttria, out in the Lejare desert."

Morgana stopped crying and quickly stood up, backing away slightly. "Yttria? Your mother and father were the village healer and a hunter in Yttria?"

"Morgana?"

The maid didn't reply straight away. Instead she sang her next words slightly. "Fly far, Fly away Little Crows…."

Ender's mind went into over-drive. _'Mother's rhyme!? She never sang to anyone else but me, how can this girl know it!?' _Tentatively, he sang the next line "Til the moon comes up and the sun away goes…"

Morgana's hands flew to her mouth and she suddenly found it hard to breath. With great effort she struggled to speak. "J-James? Is that you? It's me…

I'm your little sister…"

* * *

**A/N: And now Ender's true name comes to light. For continuity's sake, I'll still refer to him as Ender, except Morgana's dialogue might refer to him as James or Brother.**

**To you readers specifically, I apologise for taking so long, but to make up for it, by the time you read this notice, I'll already be working on the next chapter. It'll still take a while for it to be finished, but earlier started mean earlier finished (I hope). If you haven't already, Follow and review, your feedback can really help me improve my writing. No pointless flaming please, I need something constructive to help me improve. ;-;**

**Until Next time, **_**Vale**_


	10. Chapter 8: Memories of Pain

**I'm Sorry this took so long, I know I said I was already working on it back in August or whenever, but I recently started a new course at my local college (Level 2 Engineering Diploma, if anyone is interested) so I've been swamped in coursework, and add on another author I used to be kinda close to faking his own death for some sick joke, so I've either not had time or I've not been in the mood to type this up. Anyway, it's finished now (whenever I end up posting this) so Enjoy! Fun piece of trivia, most of this chapter was typed on many of the 30 minute bus rides to and from college…**

* * *

_Last Time: "J-James? Is that you? It's me… I'm your little sister…"_

* * *

Chapter 8:

As soon as words came from Morgana's mouth, Ender's eyes went wider than they'd ever been before a painful burst of memories erupted back into his mind from hidden deep within his sub-conscious. As he staggered backwards, he clutched his left eye in a way that he didn't notice the three approaching women. He fell on one knee and Lynelle was instantly by his side, Marie standing defensively over them as Aria stood in shock. This was unnoticed however as he slipped into his memories…

* * *

_The sun was strong as two black haired, purple eyed young children, a boy wearing a simple beige shirt and brown trousers and a girl in a simple white sundress ran through a light forest near the edge of the desert they lived in._

"_Come on, Morgana! You're falling behind!" called back a 12 year old Ender, or James before his true name was lost to the Fires, his face clean and without scars or blackened flesh._

"_That's no fair, Brother! You know you stupid boys are faster than me!" an 8 year old Morgana complained back, earning a good-natured laugh from the boy, who slowed down to let the younger girl catch up. She struck her tiny fists against his arm a couple times as he continued to laugh before a sad howl caught their attention. The younger girl looked at the boy, who frowned in the direction it came from._

"_Brother…"_

_In response, he gently grabbed her hand and began to lead her closer towards the howl. "Stay close. Don't worry, I'll keep you safe."_

"_O-Okay…"_

_As they made their way towards the source of the howl, it wasn't long before they picked up on the sounds of cruel laughter, wounded whining of an injured pup and the tell-tale thump on boots against an animal's body. James' frown came back as they came to the edge of a large tree and four boys around his age came into view. They stood around a young wolf, its snowy white fur matted with blood in places, taking turns to kick it, eliciting a pained whimper. The half-ender boy growled lowly before he turned to his sister._

"_You stay here. I'll get rid of them."_

"_No, You'll get beat up if you go over there…" she protested, clinging onto his arm to stop him going._

"_So I should just let it die? Just because those boys are stronger, it doesn't mean they can do whatever they want."_

"_I know, but…"_

_James smiled back and ruffled her hair a bit. "Have you forgotten who we are? I'm your badass big brother and you're my super-smart little sister. Together, we can do anything, remember?" He held up a palm, and she smiled back._

"_Yeah, we can do anything." The half-ender little girl smiled back and they high-fived. After he quickly thought up a plan, she stepped out from behind the tree and yelled at the boys._

"_Hey, you stupid boys! Stop being mean to that puppy! Stupid meanies!"_

_The boys stopped beating the dog and glared at her. "What was that, little girl?_

"_I said stop being mean, you stupid-heads!"_

_The boys stepped away from the dog and started walking towards her. "Stay out of this, pip-squeak, unless you want us to beat you instead."_

_Instead of being frightened, Morgana just smiled. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, you dummy boys."_

"_Oh yeah? Why's that?"_

_The answer came in the form of a rock being thrown from behind and smacking the back to the tallest one's head, sending him to the ground with a rather nasty cut. They turned to see James on a low tree branch, with a bag of rocks and another in his hand._

"_Because my brother will be angry, and he's scary when he's angry."_

_After a second, she grinned and bolted to the tree her brother was in as he threw another rock, hitting the tallest one, still on the ground with scraped knees, square in the face. He scampered and away, crying and beaten, as more rocks were throw, his friends following not long after. James hopped out of the tree, grinned at his sister and raised his hand for another high-five, which she returned and grinned back. _

_A pained whimper brought them out of their victory moment and their attention snapped back to the injured wolf, which was now trying to limp away while keeping an eye on the two siblings. James approached slowly, and the wolf's eyes snapped to him. In response, he lowered his body and made a calming gesture._

"_Shh, I'm not going to hurt you. Shh, shh, shh."_

_After many minutes to James gently trying to keep the animal calm, it finally let him touch itself. Gently, he stroked its muzzle, head and back, the wolf occasionally whimpering when he brushed a sensitive wound, James gently apologising each time. Slowly Morgana approached with an outstretched arm, smiling as it lifted its head to sniff and lick at the offered hand…_

* * *

The memory tapered off there, but soon another one took its place, one which Ender tried with all his conscious willpower to ward off.

"No, anything but that! Please don't make me live through that again! Isn't once enough?!"

* * *

_A small village in the desert was quiet as most residents settled inside their homes to avoid the darker creatures lurking in the night. Inside a small sandstone family home, James and Morgana were settling into their beds as a young woman in her early thirties with coal black hair and warm honey-brown eyes wished them a goodnight as she picked up the empty mugs they had been drinking warm milk from. A snowy grey wolf rested at the foot of James' bed, sniffing softly at the covers, having grown attached to the boy after a tense three weeks. The two children were just drifting off as the beast's head shot up and he growled, waking the siblings._

"_What's the matter Rynn?"_

_He growled again and barked at the window, prompting the sibling's mother to re-enter the room with a confused expression._

"_What's got him in a fuss?"_

_James gave her a clueless look. "I dunno, something outside…"_

_His mother retained her confused look as she crossed over to the window. She peered out at something in the distance and froze. James' curiosity got the better of him and he joined her at the window. Outside, approaching from the dunes was a warm glow of torches. A lot of torches. Slowly, those torches gave way to show a mass of soldiers. Held high above them was a banner to which every ender and half-ender's blood ran cold. A stylised golden cross imposed onto a sky blue banner with two crossed swords behind it; The Holy Church's Purification unit._

_The woman took a few steps back in shock, the mugs slipping from her hands and shattering on the sandstone floor, spilling a little left over milk on the soft lilac rug. "No. No, no, no, this can't be happening." She whispered to herself. "We need to leave. Now."_

_The swung open with haste, revealing a young enderman in his mid-thirties, wearing a simple brown tunic and beige trousers. His dark purple eyes held a light of concern and worry as they flicked between his wife, the shattered clay cups and his son. "Honey, What's wrong what happened!?" His voice held an obvious worry as he spoke with a slightly distorted accent that all Enders held when speaking human languages._

"_It's them. They're here, they've found us. Darling, we need to take the children and leave."_

_The Enderman's purple and lilac eyes widened before they narrowed again, becoming harder than obsidian. "Collect their things and your own and run to the forest. There's a refuge for hunters we can use to hide them. I'll warn the village, if they haven't seen them already."_

_Suddenly, everything was in a flurry of movement. Essential items were thrown into leather rucksacks and the next moment the siblings were hurried out of the door in an attempt to escape the approaching murderers._

_A pity they were too late._

_As the family turned the last corner leading out of the village, a fiery hail of flaming arrows rained upon the village, catching crops and wooden structures and setting them a blaze. A cacophony of screams filled the air as the ring of steel being unsheathed echoed across the village, only to be followed by the sickening tearing of flesh brought about by the swords of the 'men of god'. _

_The sibling's mother suddenly jerked to a halt as the familiar blue tabard came into sight. The soldier turned to them and drew his sword as she went for the steel hatchet at her hip, but before he could take a step, an arrow flew past the family and buried itself in his eye. The siblings' mother turned to its origin and smiled in relief as her eyes rested on the ebony figure of her husband, bow in hand as he ran towards them and gripped his wife in a tight hug._

"_That was too damn close. We need to leave, now!"_

_The mother nodded wordlessly and grabbed the siblings' hands as they ran between the burning buildings. Another fleeing family caught up with them and a few words were exchanged as they ran as a group, weaving around burning husks of former homes and cooling bodies of past friends and collegues. As they ran past the local liquor store, an explosion ripped through the wooden walls of the building as the flames caught the volatile liquid and ignited it with astonishing force. The escaping group was thrown in two directions as a burning wall collapsed between them. The last James saw before darkness clouded his vision was his valiant little sister fighting against the other family's hold as they ran, screaming out for and trying desperately to be with her older brother._

_The light returned after what seemed a small eternity as a blurry figure gently shook his small shoulders, another figure crouching near them, silhouetted by the flames. Blinking rapidly, the figures took shape into his mother, who was still gently shaking him, and his father, who was watching the area with his bow in hand, ready to defend his wife and son. James shook his head to clear it as he stood up, his mother lightly grasping his arms to help him up. She smiled at him a little bit to raise his spirits and opened her mouth to speak—_

_Until a glittering, golden arrow flew straight towards her, piercing her chest and rupturing her lung. She staggered and fell onto her back, choking on the blood filling her lungs._

"_Arielle!"_

_Her husband screamed before he turned to the source. Standing, a golden bow with an angelic design held relaxed, casually, in his outstretched hand, was a soldier adorned with a sky blue half-cape on his left arm, embroidered with the same thrice-be-damned golden cross: a Captain. A second and third bowman accompanied him on his right and left and, as the Captain disdainfully turned his nose up at them, both let loose an arrow from their own bows, striking the enderman twice in the chest. James' father let out a feral growl as he retaliated, even as his own life drained away. The steel-tipped arrow landed a savage strike against the guard's helmetless head, burying it though the back of his throat. Finally, with a victorious snarl, the light faded from his eyes and he fell forwards, lifeless. James was frozen in shock and grief as the other guard snapped out of his own shocked stupor and cautiously approached the enderman's cooling body. Callously, he nudged the corpse with his foot, as if to illicit a response. When none came, he grinned and kicked the dead father's head with a dull click thud of leather boots against bony flesh._

_As he watched, the grief gave way to anger and the flames of rage flickered to life within the 12 year old spectator to his disgraceful act. Slowly, his hands searched the coarse, ash-covered ground until they met a sharp metal edge and his fingers drew the object's handle into his palm. In a burst of rage-induced speed belaying of his small frame, the boy crossed the distance and sank his new weapon into the guard's abdomen. The short, silver blade slipped deep into his flesh, blood flowing freely from around its edges and the pair froze, until the light faded from the man's eyes. His body slumped and fell to its knees then down to the side as James stared numbly at the cooling corpse, his rage slowly fading and giving way to a new feeling, something cold something…primal. Breathing heavily, his vision began to cloud as lilac fog tinted his vision. Shivering violently, he blinked rapidly trying to dispel the fog before his eyes were screwed tightly shut. Suddenly, he doubled over in a sudden burst of pain, staying like this for a second before he stood up again. When he stood be possessed an aura no 12 year old boy should ever hold. Cold. Primal. Deadly. The Aura of the Predator, as the village spiritualist used to call it. His eyes opened slowly, sharply defined with new, predatorial senses. The sight of them alone would have been enough to cause nightmares, if anyone lived long enough to see them. His amethyst Iris blazed with feral light and his clean white sclera were stained a murky lilac. The trauma of seeing his parents invoked a primal rage inside James, and now his Ender-born nature had taken hold. And as such, the Nightmare of Yttria began._

_With a terrifying calm, he walked over to his fallen parents and kneeled between them. Slowly and with care, he pulled the arrows from their corpses and closed their eyes. He lowly murmured a short prayer in a language that not even he would have understood if he were still human before he removed two matching rings from his parents' ring fingers, each a simple silver band with a softly glowing orange gem. _

"_I'm sorry Mother, Father, but I need to borrow these…"_

_He apologised as he slipped the rings on and returned to his standing position before he clenched his fists, activating the orange gems' true nature. The glow increased and then suddenly disappeared as orange flames flickered to life from the Blaze rod shards polished to look like gems, quickly shooting up his arms and blazing into life in his eyes. They danced in their true colours before violet colour quickly overwhelmed them and they became a new tool of destruction for the vengeful Ender-boy to use. With eyes aflame with violet fire, he strode over to his first victim and callously pushed the corpse onto its back and brutally ripping the dagger out of his stomach in a grisly display of gore before he crouched low and prowled towards the village, and his prey. The predator had retrieved his claws, and the now the hunt had begun._

_It wasn't long until James was surrounded by death. Death he had caused, yet he was strangely calm. 14 soldiers lie dead around him, death evidently varied between, and many more lie in the village behind him. Most were slashed or stabbed, no doubt by the blood soaked dagger in his hand. A few were impaled on their own weapons, or those of their comrades. A pair of twins shared such a fate, each with the other's sword hilted in their stomach; their hands still frozen by rigor-mortis. An unlucky few faced the power of his flames directly, charred and blackened bones in place of flesh, muscles and even a man's entire face. One man was even ripped to pieces with his bare hands, his armless socket still leaking what little blood his had left and his knee snapped the wrong way._

_Only a single man adorned in the attire of a Captain stood, seemingly oblivious to the slaughter of his comrades. His stony features were cracked with a smug expression, even as James looked directly at him, cold murder in his monstrous eyes._

"_I always knew you freaks were nothing more than monsters, but thanks anyway for the perfect demonstration. When I report this to the leadership, we'll have authority to 'whatever's necessary' to you monsters. Especially your pretty young women, haha!"_

_The captain taunted, yet James remained unfazed. He simply looked at the man. After a second he replied evenly as he slid the dagger into his belt, without a hint of intimidation, but it wasn't his voice. The voice he spoke with was darker, twisted and warped like an enderman's scream twisted into words._

"_You seem confident in your own survival." He stated as he retched a steel sword standing up from a fallen corpse. The sword was just over half his height, yet he wielded it his one hand as he flicked it up to point it at the man. "Care to put that to the test?" _

_The man grinned. "You're out of your depth, you half-pint little monster, but I guess I'll take your challenge." The ender-boy just stared impassively. Annoyed by the lack of a response, the guard charged forward as he drew his unusual sword. James reacted by moving so fast he almost blurred out completely, scoring a deep gash in the older man's side as he dashed past. He slid to a stop as the wounded captain forced himself to remain standing with enraged fire in his eyes, contrasting with the cold, literal flames in James' own._

"_I, Gabriel Mich-herilov, refuse to fall to some brat like you!" He forcefully swung his sword in front of him before roughly standing in an open fighting stance. James' eyes settled on his weapon and a primal urge to back away from it sparked in him for a second before he crushed it mercilessly. The guard must have noticed it as he grinned and moved his sword slightly._

"_Do you like it? It's a personal creation of mine; _Ender-Termina_! Using the pearls I gathered from slaughtering you monsters, I infused them into the molten shape of a diamond sword and gave birth to the most beautifully ironic tool to slaughter even more of you un-godly freaks! Now, fall to this blade and DIE!"_

_He was moving before he even finished his sentence and the primal ender-boy only just managed to block the blade in time, earning a small scratch on his cheek for the trouble. He dived backwards to avoid the return sweep, and raised his sword to defend against the next attack as the captain chased after him, sword still swinging wildly. He blocked a slash from high on his left and stepped away from the following stab to his right, before he retaliated with a high stab that lightly bit into the guard's neck. James' primal speed and strength met Gabriel's skill and bloodlust slash for slash, and stab for stab. _

_Suddenly, a flash of light broke the momentum and time slowed as James threw his head back and a golden arrow streaked past his face, an arrow that would have killed him if he hadn't of moved. He turned his head to look at the source, briefly making out the shape of another man in a captain's uniform with a golden bow in hand before pain lanced up his arm. He turned back to see the diamond blade of Gabriel's sword embedded into his flesh. With a spiteful laugh he ripped it out, and James staggered back as the red fog descended again._

"_I knew you weren't all that tough. In the end you're just another freaking little shit. Fuck lot of good those eyes of yours did ya!"_

_He kept speaking but James couldn't hear him anymore. The only thing he could hear was a quiet voice whispering steadily louder._

"…em…"

…

"…them…"

…

_He struggled to hear them, so he called out into his mind._

"_Who's there? What do you want?"_

…

"…ll them…"

"_What do you want from me? What do I do!?"_

…

"**KILL THEM!" **

_The voice roared, and something inside of him snapped. For a second time, he could feel the primal urge, but now it was stronger, more violent. It called for blood, and he answered before his consciousness faded._

_His closed eyes snapped open as the violet flames spread from his eyes followed by black hardened flesh, like burning wood. His hair turned an ashen grey and grew to his shoulders. His legs and arms became longer and his body became more built. When it was complete, his skin was entirely black; his eyes still burning with violet flames and he looked as if he were 19 or 20 in age. His physique was slim, yet with enough power to overcome a fully grown ox. Before he had a chance to ready himself, Gabriel was assaulted by a fist like cast iron, throwing him backwards with great force. As he landed, he could feel the broken ribs in his chest and he cried out in pain. He looked up to see the almost fully-Ender James approaching with his sword still in his hand. As he drew closer, Gabriel could see blazing purple cracks spreading along the blade, tiny flames licking at their edges. He swung his sword and the guard scrambled backwards out of the way, feeling the heat from the blade singeing the hairs on his skin as it passed. Panicked, he scrambled to his feet and tried to attack, but when their blades met, the straining steel of James' blade could no longer contain his surging power and exploded violently into violet flames and shards of metal, throwing the captain back a few metres. _

_A lingering smoke remained for a few moments. A few tense seconds ticked by until a gust of wind picked up and cleared the smoke, revealing James, clothes slightly singed but unharmed. He threw down the hilt of the shattered sword; the only thing left of his weapon and started to walk towards Gabriel. The guard scrambled to his feet, hastily readying his weapon as his enemy drew closer. James stepped within attacking distance, and he swung his sword wide from the left, with the intention of slashing across the hybrid's chest._

_The blade stopped short as James grabbed his arm before driving his knee into the guard's solar plexus and twisting his arm behind his back, forcing him to drop his sword in the process. He struggled out of the grip and retreated a few metres backwards. Gabriel flexed his hand and his eyes widened as he realised he no longer had his blade. He watched as James picked it up and gave it an experimental swing before turning his attention back to the guard. B y reflex, he bolted towards the nearest corpse, grabbing the sword and raising in a panicked block. The futile attempt did nothing to prevent his death._

_James swatted the blade away with a slash to the left, and a sudden instinct rose up inside. Following that instinct, he willed the intoxicating power blazing in his eyes down the length of his arm, as if the sword was calling for it. Angular veins of glowing purple light spread across the blade like an intense chain of lightning strikes as he applied more power, pushing until he felt all the power leave his right eye. As he forced the last ounce of power into the blade, Indigo flames burst to life like fire across oil, starting near the handle and forming a tight cloak of indigo and violet blaze._

_He followed up with a rising slash that severed his right hand and half of his lower arm completely. The afflicted man screaming in agony as he stumbled back, his cauterised stump still sizzling, until James slashed him across the chest, deep enough to cause extreme agony but not deep enough to kill him, and he screamed an even louder, more agonised wail. Growing tired of his screaming, James focused and time seemed to slow as he lunged forward with a low, rising slash that tore clean though his left thigh, fluidly following with a horizontal slash that took off his remaining arm, carrying the momentum into a half spin. He brought the sword up next to his head, tip pointed at the slowly falling guard, his body coiled like a viper for the attack. He stopped for the briefest moment to growl._

"_**Die!"**_

_With that, he brought his sword up in a steep slash rising from right to left that tore the falling guard's body in half in a grisly spectacle of blood and gore. The bisected corpse hit the ash-covered ground with a sickening wet thud as James relaxed his pose, dispelled the flames and inspected his new weapon. The gleaming surface, now soaked in blood, showed no sign of breaking under the stress of his uncontrolled power._

'_No sign of damage or decay. Good length, diamond edge means no need for sharpening, sturdy blade. Well made, deplorable origins. It's a good weapon, and an even better symbol of revenge.' He mentally appraised before he tore off the man's cape and used it to clean the blade. Retrieving the sword's sheath from the corpse he secured the weapon to his back and glared in the direction the other captain with the bow had retreated before he set off in the same direction._

_It wasn't long until he caught up to the blue-caped man. As he came to what used to be the village centre, large chunks of debris in place of old market stalls, The man was stood; waiting, with his back to the approaching predator, whose foot caught a loose piece of rubble and it skittered across the ground. The man looked over his shoulder with an arrogant smirk as over a dozen hidden archers sprang out to unleash their deadly hail. To anyone one else watching, James became a blur and trail of indigo flames as the familiar feeling of his instincts took over and time slowed again. _

_The colours faded to grey as he focussed his whole attention the hail of steel destined to impale him. In a real-time split second, he re-ignited his weapon and slashed upwards to deflect and incinerate the first three arrows simultaneously, carrying the momentum of the strike into a full back-flip to avoid the next two narrowly passing underneath his head, finishing with an upward strike that mirrored his first, deflecting the next into the ground and splitting the one after into two splintered pieces. In a split-second, he burst forward, deflecting another arrow as he ran. His eyes flashed teal under their blazing cloaks and a shower of sparks replaced him as he felt himself shift and warp. He reappeared behind the first group of three and swung his sword downwards, biting deep into the first man's spine as his comrade stood in shock. The assassin capitalized on it and drove the blade clean through the second man's stomach, before hauling the corpse in front of him to block the third man's retaliatory strike. Before he could load his next arrow, James kicked his friend's corpse into him, knocking him to ground and slashing his throat with the silver dagger he kept on his belt. The remaining 9 bowmen reacted as only they could, unleashing as many arrows as they could. They did little to stop his assault as he deflected or completely burned them away. He vaulted off of a low, ruined wall and leapt into the next group of three. He landed between the three before he lunged at the guard in the middle as the other two drew their swords even amidst their shock. His blade pierced straight through the man's heart and emerged on the other side before James threw his head to the side to avoid a blow that would have torn out his right eye, countering with a backwards heel kick to the man's face that threw the guard at least half a metre sideways. He spun in a half circle in time to lock swords with the other man as they struggled for a few seconds before James palmed his dagger and, with a lightning fast movement, slashed his throat. An enraged roar alerted him that the second man had already recovered and was charging him. James earned a moderate gash as a result of a failed block with his dagger, the smaller weapon unsuccessfully diverting the full-length sword away from him, biting into his hip slightly. Contrary to a normal wound, blood didn't flow as a liquid but instead a thin red smoke drifted from the wound, getting caught in the lazy wind and dissipating and his eyes flashed with rage and he gripped the sword's handle in two hands, bringing the blade up and cleaving it into the attacker's shoulder, splitting him in half from shoulder to hip._

_A slow, patronising clap drew James' attention and he turned. As he was striking down their allies, the other 6 bowmen had re-grouped and formed a slightly curved firing line with the golden bow-wielding captain at the centre. He took a step forward, but the 6 readied arrows made him reconsider. The burning in his eyes, different from the literal fire, told him his spacial warp was out of the question, and he wasn't close enough to reach them with his sword as well as deflect all of the arrows. Stuck for options, he just glared at the leader._

"_Well, I must say, you gave us quite the show there monster. we could have used someone with your talents, especially that delightful flame trick, but alas; your little rampage ends here. Farewell to The Freaks' last hero, we'll take good care of your people, just like we did to your village here." Said leader taunted as he raised his hand with an arrogant, shit-eating smirk, his underlings drawing back their bowstrings, ready to fire. The reality of his situation ran through his mind and his body went a little colder. Despair threatened to creep into his mind as he thought of his parents and his little sister._

'_I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Mother, Father, Morgana. I couldn't live for you, I wasn't strong enough.'_

_His eyes clouded his grief and he watched uncaringly as the half-dozen barbs began their death-delivering path. It was of little importance now, there was nothing he could do. Every escape route would be intercepted by an arrow._

_Suddenly, Time froze as a voice entered his mind, pulling him away from his mind. It was soft, caring and motherly. It was a memory of Arielle, his mother._

"_Aw, you're my own little knight! You're going to grow up big and fight off all monsters, aren't you?" His eyes widened. This was from his twelfth birthday, when he said he wanted a toy sword to 'fight all the bad guys'._

"_You're so cool and strong! You're amazing, big brother!" Morgana, his precious little sister, after he scared off a group of boys from the district capital that were trying to pick on her. _

"_Remember; when I'm not here, you're the man of the house! It's up to you to keep your mother and sister safe, you hear?" Kyrian, his father, before he left on one of his hunting trips._

"_Fight…"_

"_Strong…"_

"_Safe…"_

"Fight…"

"Strong…"

"Safe…"

"_**Fight!"**_

"_**Strong!"**_

"**FIGHT!"**

_His eyes snapped back to the real world, still frozen in time, and then narrowed. He gripped the handle of his sword with both hands and willed the blazing power remaining in his left eye down his arm as time began to spin again. The tight flaming cloak became an unruly violet and indigo blaze as the blade was filled with more power than it could contain. The sword was drawn back to his right as the arrows drew every inch closer and with an animalistic roar, he swung, forcing every inch of his power out of the blade. A blazing arc of purple flames carved its way through the air, meeting the incoming arrows, turning the wood to ashes and tips to shrapnel slag as the flames burned away the very atoms that formed them and releasing their energy as tiny explosions that forced them apart. The flames didn't stop there as they kept travelling, tearing the bodies of the assembled guards in two, as if a huge red-hot blade had cleaved them in half. The captain only barely escaped that fate as his golden weapon took the brunt of the force, absorbing as much power as it could before it cracked. Still, two deep cuts scored deep into his hips, forcing him to his knees. James could feel an onset of exhaustion from his release, but fought through it as he walked closer to the kneeling captain._

"_H-how?! The Nether star in my Holy Rectifier was supposed to negate your demonic powers! How!?" he stammered and growled, trying to scramble away, his 'holy' weapon forgotten. James just fixed him with a cold stare that promised nothing less than brutal murder. He picked up the discarded weapon and it reacted to his touch. The golden colour evaporated from the strange metal frame underneath as its angelic design became more angular and dark. The ground cracked and a torrent of salt-sized crystals, a dark purple almost black, fused to the new weapon and gave it a new, sleek black sheen. His mind's eye, or rather his void-given instincts, recognised it as Obsidian, the so-called Cursed Stone, un-mineable to but the hardest of pickaxes and imbued with the innate power to link the Overworld and the Nether._

"_You claim to fight demons when you can't recognise the power of the void. No good, no evil, just the darkness that brings light. Even your own weapons betray you when faced with it. Now you can face the flames of the void and __**Burn.**__"_

_With that he grabbed the fleeing man's ankle and dragged him backwards until he grabbed his whole foot and twisted it with a sharp movement. The bone snapped with a sickening crack, and the agony the captain felt was known though his scream. He tried to lash out, but James just grabbed his hand and snapped his wrist, so the captain fell back screaming anew. His power all but expended, James knew he couldn't sustain his Ender body for long as he felt small portion of his own wrist turn to ash. The captain went cold as the ashen flesh fell, laying witness to daunting sight beneath. He was looking straight into the infinite darkness of the Void itself, filling James' flesh as muscles and bones would. Ashen smoke poured from the cracks spreading from the hole, giving the monster before him and even more horrifying, wraith-like appearance and it sparked a primal fear within him. Rocks, rubble, even small knives were hurled franticly at James as he slowly approached, until a small brick connected with his forehead and threw his back. A small grin appeared on the captain's face, but quickly disappeared and turned to pure terror when his head turned back. Almost half of his decaying face was torn off, revealing a blackened skull with animalistic fangs and a dim violet light in his exposed socket. He roared and strode closer, and the captain whimpered in terror, eyes wide, until a smoking, ashen and bony hand grabbed his throat and lifted him up._

"_This game is over, and your life is forfeit. Now suffer." James snarled as he shifted his hand slightly, so that his fingers were digging into his lower jaw and, with his free hand, tore out the captain's throat. As he began to sputter and choke on his own blood, James squeezed his body for the last ounce of power it could spare. The smoke emitted from his cracked body multiplied as a small violet flame danced down the arm still holding the man by his ravaged neck. The moment it reached the exposed flesh, the inferno ignited and flames tore down his throat. Flames poured from every opening as the captain burned alive in his own skin, screaming in total agony until it all went quiet. The smoking corpse dropped from James' grip and his ender body turned to ash. _

_Tears stained James face as he stumbled forward and he fell to his knees, his head in his hands as he sobbed softly. And then he screamed: He screamed for innocence lost; He screamed for the death of those closest to him. He screamed until he couldn't scream any more. And it went black._

_When he woke, James was gone. He had been consumed by the flames that burned away his village and many others; in his place was the nameless avatar of revenge that would fall upon the church so many years later. He had no idea of who he was anymore or why he was even still alive, but he knew his purpose: Revenge, and Retribution. _

Slowly his memories returned, but not all of them. The trauma had sealed away the most precious thing in his life, so that he would focus on his task. His path of blood had already begun; he just needed to learn how to walk it.

* * *

**A/N: That's that for the chapter, next up is the Mistral City Assault and disaster strikes Freedom's Wings. For those of you interested in my other work, I shall be ending my poll and starting my next story on 2:30PM GMT, Friday (the day after this was posted), so get your votes in while you can. The reason is…**

**I'm putting this story on a Hiatus for a short time as I focus on my other works, because it is starting to become a drag for me. I'm sorry for my regular readers, especially the ones that have been with me from the beginning (especially IHateCliffhangerz, thank you mi domina). My posting speed was atrocious enough as it was, but now it's going to suffer even more.**

**Sorry, but that's all for now, ReaperAsOfLate**


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